The Missoula Children’s Theatre tour will be stopping in 100 Mile House to put on a play after just six days of rehearsal.
Auditions will be held on Monday, rehearsals Tuesday to Friday, then a full public performance of the Pied Piper will run on Saturday.
The program welcomes students from Kindergarten to Grade 12 and 50 to 60 children will be chosen to perform.
“It’s just not really intimidating, I don’t think,” says Karen Smith, treasurer of the 100 Mile Performing Arts Society.
“They just get them to do these fun things and they’re always so amazing.”
This is not the first time the touring performance group has rolled into town.
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They’ve come to Mile 108 Elementary, Horse Lake Elementary and Smith says the Performing Arts Society has invited them to town twice before. 100 Mile children put on a rendition of Sleeping Beauty in 2015.
“There’s no preparation necessary,” says Smith. Children can just show up and be a part of a pretty incredible experience.
The program is run by young people from the theatre group and Smith says it feels more like fun and games than your typical nerve-wracking audition.
The theatre group brings kids up on stage and gets them singing and dancing and participating in acting games. Then they assign roles and begin rehearsing.
“It’s all done in a week,” says Smith.
She and other members of the Performing Arts Society will be present throughout the process, to help in any way and make sure things run smoothly.
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Other than that the whole play, truly a massive undertaking, is done completely by the theatre group and the kids.
“They do the whole show themselves,” says Smith.
The Missoula Children’s Theatre, based in Missoula, Montana, has toured to nearly 1,100 communities over the past 50 years.
They put out a list of available productions and dates every year so communities get to choose what they want to see.
This year’s productions included the Pied Piper, Blackbeard the Pirate, Gulliver’s Travels, Peter and Wendy, Robin Hood, Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, the Secret Garden, the Snow Queen, the Frog Prince, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, King Arthur’s Quest, and the Emperor’s New Clothes.
Auditions for the Pied Piper begin at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 24, at Martin Exeter Hall. Rehearsals will continue to run after school throughout the week then two full performances are scheduled for 3 and 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29.
beth.audet@100milefreepress.net
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