Hundreds of actors, crew members, directors, and producers are getting ready for the curtain to go up on the inaugural Rickrack in the Wack theatre festival, which begins Wednesday.
One of the productions will be performed by the newly formed Vedder Youth Theatre Club. Their play, Happily Never After, will kick off the Rickrack festival at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre.
“Members of the Vedder Youth Theatre Club are having a ball rehearsing their show, Happily Never After, in preparation for the upcoming Rickrack in the Wack festival,” says director/producer Jacqui Higginbottom.
Her show will be an adapted version of the play by Tim Kelly.
“The original is very dated and we’ve modernized it. We’ve added some roles,” she says. “[The audience] will see a lot of comedy for all ages. It’s like a Disney production where the adults snicker at a few things that the kids don’t quite get. But the kids will get the physical humour, and the costumes, and they know the fairy tales.”
The course of true love does not run smoothly in Happily Never After: Sleeping Beauty does nothing but nap; the Frog Prince refuses to give up his amphibian ways; and nothing will pry Cinderella away from her beloved cinders. The unhappy fairy tale characters demand the Grimm siblings make some changes, which they do, but not in the way you might think.
Jorja Van Winkle, 15, plays Christine Grimm, one of two writers in the play. Christine is the more “down-to-earth, professional writer,” says Jorja.
“I quite enjoy her because she is fairly practical, but she does get frazzled pretty easily. She’s kind of there to ground her sister, Hannah, who is the flighty, in-the-clouds sister.”
Playing one half of Humpty Dumpty is 16-year-old Josh Power.
“My partner [Humpty, played by Brooke Higginbottom] and I, we get to bump around a lot and cause a lot of physical damage,” says Josh. “I’ve been hurt on more than one occasion in rehearsal. We get to be the physical comedy of the whole thing and it’s really fun because it opens up more opportunities for improv.”
Plus “my friends get to see me in the most ridiculous makeup I’ve ever worn so far. And probably the most ridiculous costume I’ve worn as well — and I’ve worn some weird ones,” he adds.
Madelleine Johnston, 15, plays Sleeping Beauty, who is “very angry and very displeased” with all of the people around her.
“I like this character because I get to lay on the couch and sleep,” says Madelleine.
Morgan Arnold will be taking on the job of stage manager for Happily Never After. After acting in two previous productions, this is his first time as stage manager.
“I get to yell at people and I love it,” he laughs. “It’s really enjoyable because you get to see the other side of it. When you’re acting it seems like there’s a lot of work to be done, and then you get behind the scenes and you realize how much more work there is being done. It’s cool to get that different experience.”
Morgan admits he’s a “chaotic” stage manager, but he’s had some tips from Jorja, who’s also had experience as a stage manager, on how to be a bit more organized.
The show includes a cast and crew of 30 grade-school kids aged seven to 17, plus about 10 adult volunteers.
The kids describe the show as “fun, enjoyable, amazing, challenging, exciting, and ‘eggstatic.’”
“It’s hilarious,” Jorja says. “I don’t think I’ve had a bored moment even throughout all of our rehearsals. When I first read the script, I laughed aloud, and then every time we rehearse, I end up laughing at some point.”
“This is the fourth time I’ve done this show,” Higginbottom says. “I really hope that the public comes out and supports, especially the community members who’ve been in the show before. Some of those kids now have their own kids.”
Higginbottom did Happily Never After in the ’90s, 2010, and 2014. She figures there are well over 150 community members who’ve been involved in her productions of the show over the past two decades.
“The [Chilliwack] Players Guild welcomed me to the community 25 years ago… and when they said they were doing the Rickrack I thought I have to support that somehow. What can I do? I will put in a show,” she says.
She didn’t think about the massive task she was undertaking — moving a cast and crew of 30 kids who don’t drive, plus an entire stage set, costumes, and props to the Cultural Centre.
“That’s been the biggest challenge is taking the whole show on the road… with 30 non-drivers. But, I have some wonderful adult help too,” she says.
“I hope that the community comes out to support this show and the Rickrack festival. It’s really nice when the community comes out to support the show.”
“And this one is so much fun,” she adds. “They will see that the grass isn’t always greener… it’s kind of the moral of the story. Be happy in the story you have.”
The festival, presented by the Chilliwack Players Guild, will be spread over five days from May 3 to 7 in two theatres — one of them being in the Rotary Hall Studio at the Chilliwack Cultural Centre and the other across the northwest parking lot in the Chilliwack Players Guild Hall.
Happily Never After is at the Rickrack in the Wack theatre festival at the Cultural Centre on Wednesday, May 3 at 10:30 a.m., Friday, May 5 at 5 p.m., Saturday, May 6 at 2:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 7 at 1 p.m.
For more info, including the full festival lineup, ticket info, and show descriptions, go to rickrack.ca.
