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Playing to the kids
Published 11:20am Thursday, May 10, 2012This year’s Fergus Falls High School play production is sure to be an audience-pleaser, no matter your age, according to Director Lowell Carpenter.
“This cast is creating some pretty strong performances,” he said, “And they are going to have some fun with (the characters.)”
A cast of 12 students, mostly juniors and seniors, will perform two children’s plays, “Turnabout Night at the Zoo,” and “A Witch’s First Birthday.”
The plays are suitable and sure to entertain young and old, as all good children’s plays do, said Carpenter.
“Even as adults, we are still all kids at heart,” he said.
“Turnabout Night at the Zoo,” involves just that. Every year at the city zoo, the animals, who entertain people all year long, turn the tables and put the people who happen to be nearby in cages.
Of course, not all of the people enjoy this “turnabout” and the fact that they must now perform for the animals. A song, a rap, a recitation and a soft shoe result. Of course, along the way a few lessons are learned.
In “A Witch’s First Birthday, a young witch, who has never had a birthday, must learn how to dance, sing and laugh before she can meet the birthday king.
The Queen of Witches, however, has different ideas — since she has never celebrated a birthday, none of the witches will be allowed a birthday either. With the help of the Snow Queen, Jack-in-the-Box, a soldier and an opera singer, the king of birthdays a.k.a. Popcorn Pete, decides the young witch, Gertrude, deserves her birthday. And for good measure, Repulsive, the queen of witches, gets invited too.
The cast of characters includes seniors Robbie Darling, Jenna Junkert, Lucy Krivanek, Brad Muckey, and Ryan Sorkness; juniors, Morgan Fylling, Ben Haugmo, Olivia Scott and Brooke Wallington; sophomore Cassandra Eerdsman; and freshmen Brandon Hill and Pablo Damian. Some students are cast in both plays, Carpenter said.
Also involved with the production are Ryan Siems and Ashley Stevenson, light and sound techs, and Michelle Karst and Kendra King coordinated costumes.
Matinees are planned for students in grades kindergarten through sixth Thursday and Friday, with public performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, at A Center for the Arts in downtown Fergus Falls. Tickets will be sold at the door for $6 for adults and $4 for students.
“It’s a great experience for (the students) to perform for a children’s audience,” Carpenter said, “because kids are so responsive. It will be a lot of fun.”
