Logansport grad's documentary exploring LHS theater nears completion

Nov. 18—Logansport native Lauren Zehner, now Lauren Ray, was showing her 2020 documentary "Welcome to Monterey" in Detroit.

The film tells a story about a small Indiana town of 200 people trying to find their place in modern society as they prepared for their 20th Labor Day Festival.

After the showing, Ray met with former Logansport High School friends who now lived in Detroit. Their conversation led to sharing memories of performing in the high school's annual Winter Fantasy musical.

"They came to the conclusion during that conversation that I must make a documentary about Winter Fantasy," Ray said.

Ray wasn't thinking about doing another documentary. Making "Welcome to Monterey" took up so much of her time and brain space, she said. But sitting there reminiscing about LHS theater with friends sparked the same passion so had felt for the little town of Monterey.

As she thought about a new documentary project, she realized that the Winter Fantasy musical was the beginning of her acting and film journey. It's why she pursued her career.

"I thought there is no other subject on earth that could do this for me," she said.

So, Ray packed up her camera and returned home to Logansport.

A path back to Logansport

After graduating from Logansport High School in 2008, Ray studied acting at the New York Conservatory of the Dramatic Arts and the New York Film Academy for Acting. When she finished college, she headed to Los Angeles where she spent nine years acting in television and commercials. Her TV credits included "The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story."

"That was all very fun but also very difficult," she said. "I went through all of the industry woes and realized that I also enjoyed creating things of my own."

Rather than being an actor who has to wait for someone to say "yes," she decided to go out and create something of her own. In 2017, she started work on "Welcome to Monterey."

The film played across the U.S. and was shown in Canada, London, Sweden and Italy. In the process, Ray picked up awards such as best first-time filmmaker at the Screen Power film festival in London and won the Best of Hoosier Lens award at the Indy Film Fest.

"It was really fun to attend those screenings and see the reaction of people," she said. "My favorite day I have ever had in my entire life was the viewing I did with the cast of the documentary. Seeing people watching themselves and showcasing that and hearing them laugh at the right times, cry at the right times was the best feeling ever. I will never forget the compliments I received afterwards from them and some of the things they said like 'you captured the city. You captured us.' That's like the biggest compliment you can get."

Reconnecting with the past

In 2021, Ray visited the McHale Performing Arts Center for the first time since high school.

Her first interview was with Ken Fraza, the former manager of the McHale facilities. Fraza had been a part of the Winter Fantasy since 1976 and together they traced the roots of Winter Fantasy back to 1970, a performance of "West Side Story."

"I actually ended up interviewing him three times," Ray said. "I interviewed him the first time and I learned a lot and then I went off and learned more things and would have to ask Ken about that."

Some of the key contributors to the story of "Winter Fantasy" included BJ Seifert, who began working at Logansport High School in 1968, Pat Buchanan, who choreographed many Winter Fantasy performances and local photographer Rich Voorhees, who started taking cast photos while in high school in 1970.

She also met with students who were participating in that year's Winter Fantasy, "Fiddler on the Roof." It was the first time the play was being performed at the high school since Ray had been a student.

One of the narrative threads in the documentary is about current senior Finley Gay, who co-stars in this weekend's Winter Fantasy performance of "The SpongeBob Musical," and his brothers Liam and Evan, who are now in college at Purdue. All three brothers had lead roles in "Fiddler on the Roof."

Ray was interested in their story as the Gay family had just moved to Logansport a couple of years prior but the children were already making large impacts on their school and community.

"It helped them become a part of the Logansport community and changed their lives as well," Ray said. "It was cool to hear that Winter Fantasy was still doing what it did for me and everyone else I interviewed."

She also tells the story of a transgender student and how LHS English teacher and director Anthony Kinney worked with the student so they could reflect their gender in the performance.

"Kids now a days are probably more used to a camera following them around," she said. "They took it in stride. They never looked at the camera. That was the best part, getting to know all the cast."

It was while filming in Logansport that Ray realized she had come full circle.

"As I was filming I was having to go through a lot of my own Winter Fantasy and high school experiences and I just realized that this documentary also was the perfect documentary to tell my story about my journey from Logansport Winter Fantasy to the acting industry and back again," she said.

"Winter Fantasy"

Ray hopes to debut the film, titled "Winter Fantasy," in 2024 alongside that year's Winter Fantasy performance.

"It's fully timeline edited, which means the rough draft is done," she said. "The score has been completed by the composer and now it's a matter of getting the sound effects done, the special effects and the graphic animation. The only reason it will take another year to get that done is all of those things are very expensive."

Ray has started a Facebook page and a webpage—Winterfantasydoc.com—to help build excitement for the documentary and help with fundraising.

The website currently features shirts, hats, key chains and stickers that can be ordered. There is also an option to donate money towards the project.

"All proceeds go to finishing this film because it is an expensive thing to undertake with no funding," she said.

There are also plenty of photos that feature Ray interviewing Tim and Susan Cahalan, Kinney and the masked-up "Fiddler on the Roof" cast.

So why is LHS theater and the Winter Fantasy performance so special?

"It surrounds you with like minded people who are very accepting of who you are and all your weirdness," she said. "And performing is an artistic thing. Sometimes an escape for many people. I think it's just having that pride of history, that amazing theater that makes you feel like you are legit and professional and just the fun and release and the ability to be somebody else onstage for a little bit of time."

The 2023 Winter Fantasy performance "The SpongeBob Musical" continues at 7 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students.