Missoula Theatre Company, students produce play within a week

Fort Huachuca, Arizona - This summer, 56 students, 5 to 18, worked collaboratively for one week with tour actors from Missoula Children's Theatre to produce a play at Colonel Johnston 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 movements 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 many countries, guiding students in constructing a successful play.

"We go to a different place each week," Smith explained. "We travel with the costumes, props, the sets, everything."

All equipment they bring with them is meant to be collapsible and portable. The costumes are also adjustable 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 setting and were chosen based on their singing, dancing and overall expressions. On June 1, 70 students auditioned for parts at Colonel Johnston Elementary School on post.

"We got everyone together in a big circle and [we] 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 started 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 perform the play [entirely] without their scripts," Smith said. "We want each cast member to become familiar with their lines and movements … and that's exactly what happened."

"By Friday, [we had] a full-length musical," Bailey added.

Suzanne Crawford, the show coordinator, who works through Child Youth and School Services at SKIESUnlimited as the instructional program specialist, has helped bring Missoula Theatre Company to Fort Huachuca schools for six years.

According to Crawford, Missoula Theatre Company and their tour actors have been helping students at Fort Huachuca for nine years.

"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 program since it first came to Fort Huachuca. She was 5 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 participating 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.

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 inside 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 the play.

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 International 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.

"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 together," Rachel said.