Page 16 - Ft. Huachuca Scout 6-12-15

1B The Scout
Missoula Theatre Company works with students to produce play within a week
Story and photos by Stephanie Caffall
Staff Writer
This summer, 56 students, 5 to 18, worked collab-
oratively for one week with tour actors from Missoula
Children’s Theatre to produce a play at Colonel John-
ston Elementary School.
Blair Smith and Rachel Bailey, tour actors, are a
two-person team that has been a part of the Missoula
Children’s Theatre for two years. Together, they helped
students at Fort Huachuca rehearse lines and move-
ments for a unique twist on the play, “Aladdin,” which
was performed on post Saturday.
Missoula Theatre Company and their tour actors
travel to 50 states and 70 countries, guiding students in with their lines and movements … and that’s exactly
constructing a successful play.
“We go to a different place each week,” Smith ex-
plained. “We travel with the costumes, props, the sets,
everything.”
The equipment they bring with them is meant to be
collapsible and portable. The costumes are also adjust-
able to fit youth of different sizes.
“We arrive in a town on Sunday and on Monday, we
hold auditions,” Smith said.
Students were selected at the audition in a group set- Huachuca for nine years.
ting and were chosen based on their singing, dancing
and overall expressions. On June 1, 70 students audi-
tioned for parts at Colonel Johnston Elementary School.
“We got everyone together in a big circle and [we]
Young actors and actresses in costume gather for a photo opportunity before the Missoula Children’s Theatre production of the the play.
play “Aladdin” at Colonel Johnston Elementary School Saturday night. The MCT arrives on location, holds a casting session for
youth and puts on a play within a week.
gave them a lot of fun things to do,” Bailey said.
She further explained that she, alongside Smith, look
to see who is comfortable being silly, who’s ready to
have fun with us, who is expressive.
“We really try to find a good spot for each person in a
part or a group that they can really shine in,” Bailey said.
After auditions on Monday, Smith and Bailey start-
ed immediately helping students to become familiar
with their parts. They did several runs through the play,
practicing first, with paper scripts.
“On Thursday, members of the cast were able to per-
form the play [entirely] without their scripts,” Smith
said. “We want each cast member to become familiar
what happened.”
“By Friday, we’ll have a full-length musical,” Bai-
ley added.
Suzanne Crawford, the show coordinator, who
works through Child Youth and School Services at
SKIESUnlimited as the instructional program special-
ist, has worked with bringing Missoula Theatre Com-
pany to Fort Huachuca schools for six years.
According to Crawford, Missoula Theatre Company
and their tour actors have been helping students at Fort
“This program is so unique,” Crawford said. “It is
really liked within our community and many students
have been returning year after year.”
Danielle James, 14, has participated in this summer
FRIDAY, JUNE 12, 2015
program since it first came to Fort Huachuca. She was
5 years old then. In this summer’s play, she portrays
one of the all-knowing genies.
“I’ve continued being a part of the play each summer
because it’s a great way to develop my acting skills,”
James said.
The girl explained that she benefits each year in par-
ticipating in the plays and has gained more creativity
and louder speaking skills.
“I feel that more students should [participate in this
program] because it’s a really great experience,” James
said. “If I wasn’t doing this, [this summer] I would
probably be bored at home.”
According to Bailey, both she and Smith participate
and swap roles in the show, each week.
This week, Smith directed the show, while Bailey
took part in the role of one of the four genies in the play.
“This program is so much more than just a show —
it’s teaching life skills through theatre,” Smith said. “Not
only do the [students] learn confidence, public speaking,
flexibility, [but they gain] responsibility in taking part in
something that is collective, that they put together.”
On Saturday, approximately 160 people gathered in-
side the Colonel Johnston Elementary School auditorium
to watch the 45-minute student production of “Aladdin.”
The play featured acts from characters in the Arabian tale.
The plot of the play begins with Aladdin hoping to meet
the princess. He learns, however, that it will take more
than three wishes to make a good impression.
“The fact that they’re able to do all of this in a few
days in phenomenal,” said Angela Biski, who attended
Steven Whipple, father of Sarah and Stephanie
Whipple, who starred in the play as Scherezade and
Dinazade, attended the play on Saturday.
“Our kids [have] participated in this every year for
five years now,” he said. “It’s not Broadway, but it is
fun, it’s Family and it’s a great thing for the kids to do
during the summer.”
For 40 years, the Missoula Children’s Theatre Interna-
tional tour has fostered life skills in more than one million
children. In 2015, Missoula Children’s Theater worked
with 65,000 children in more than 1,200 communities.
“Our next stop is Hawaii,” Blair said. “In the summer
we mostly go to posts and bases [around the country].
But through the year we go to summer camps, schools,
after school programs and local theatre programs with
the added benefit of having a finished product to share
with the community,” Rachel said.
“It’s really fun that we allow for kindergarten and
high school students to take part in this because they get
to work together. There’s not many other things where
you get five year olds and sixteen year olds working to-
gether,” Rachel said.