The approaching community theatre season will truly have something for everyone with three very different productions slated in the coming months at Martin Exeter Hall in 100 Mile House.
The 100 Mile House Performing Arts Society is sponsoring a Missoula Children’s Theatre production, Sleeping Beauty, this fall, followed by a fun, family-friendly pantomime version of Cinderella in December, and the A.R. Gurney play, The Dinning Room, in March 2016.
The plays were chosen following a new “pitch a play” initiative by the local community theatre group, asking aspiring directors to bring their production ideas forward.
“We’re already looking forward to ‘pitch a play’ next year,” says board member Margot Shaw. “It’s really cool seeing people taking a longer term view and developing ideas.”
The Missoula Children’s Theatre original adaptation of Sleeping Beauty is open to youth from across the region for no fee. There are parts for 50 to 60 kindergarten to Grade 12 students, with auditions on Sept. 14, rehearsals in the afternoons Sept. 15-18, and two shows on Sept. 19.
The original adaptation of the classic fairy tale will see Sleeping Beauty, after 500 years of sleep, find herself in a “Rock ‘n Roll Fable for the ages.”
Cinderella is being directed by Performing Arts Society board member Donalda Speers. The show, with a cast of 23, promises to be a “raucous, fun time,” with music, comedy and audience participation, in time for the Christmas season.
The Dinning Room, with a cast of six, is the second A.R. Gurney play the Performing Arts Society is producing, following Love Letters in October 2014.
Gord Smith, who previously directed Art of Murder in February, is the director.
“Gord is terribly courageous for taking it on,” says Shaw. “This is a bigger cast and it will be just as much as a stretch [dramatically for the actors]. It’s definitely a Gurney play. It’s not anything simple on the surface. It’s a really challenging piece.”
