By Joel van der Veen
DAVIDSON — After an intense week of learning and rehearsals, Davidson families got to enjoy the fruits of their children’s labours in the form of a stage musical last weekend.
The talents of 42 students were featured in “Rapunzel,” presented on June 20 as a production of the Missoula Children’s Theatre company, before a crowd of 150 in the school gymnasium.
Theatre employees Chelsey Campbell and Eli Halterman worked at the school throughout the week leading up to Saturday, holding workshops for students in grades 1 through 8 during the day and rehearsing for “Rapunzel” in the afternoons.
Teacher Arlene Low said the final product was outstanding and showed the hard work that students and other contributors had put into it.
“They are a wonderful group and they work and communicate with kids so well,” she said. “They (the students) learned so much about the theatre . . . So did I.”
The production was open to students in grades 1 through 12. All 42 students who auditioned on Monday were given parts in the play, which told an expanded version of the Grimm brothers’ classic fairy tale of the girl with the long golden hair.
This version moved the story to France and added a large cast of characters, including wood elves, the Billy Goats Gruff, ogres, unicorns, the Three Bears, a beaver named Bucky, mushrooms, ears of corn and a potato.
Campbell played the role of Frenchy, the narrator, while Halterman served as the director. The play featured several songs sung by the students, who were accompanied by pianist Pearl Unger of Craik.
Students stayed after school for between two and four hours each day throughout the week as they familiarized themselves with their lines, staging and directions. The sets, props, makeup and costumes were furnished by the theatre company.
At the play’s close, Halterman thanked the school and students for hosting them and working with them, and noted that after taking a week off, they would be headed overseas to lead workshops in Turkey, Portugal and Germany.
Low said that the process of bringing the Missoula, Mont.-based theatre company to Davidson took about a year and a half.
A four-member committee was established and solicited donations from local service clubs and businesses to cover the cost of the program — around $2,500 in U.S. funds, or just over $3,100 in Canadian funds.
Low said the committee hopes that the money collected at the door will allow the school to bring the company back on an annual basis.
“We have some talented kids,” she said. “I think it’s just wonderful that we have an opportunity for them to shine.”
The Missoula Children’s Theatre company (MCT) has been conducting its tours for four decades. According to the company’s promotional material, this year alone the company will work with 65,000 children in more than 1,200 communities across the U.S. and 17 other countries.