Last Missoula Performance in Naples

Our kids loved the opportunity to be involved in the Missoula Children's Theater productions during our time in Italy. We had never heard of this group before, but it was a BIG DEAL whenever they came to town! Auditions are held on a Monday morning, with rehearsals running every day until show time, which was Friday night for us. The older 4 kids got to participate in several different shows each, and while sometimes they were disappointed with the roles they got (and occasionally with NOT getting roles), each show was fun and unique and always a good learning experience. The last performance for our crew was "Beauty and the Country Beast." Afterward, as usual, we went out to eat with several families involved in the performance. It was a bittersweet experience at Da Baffone, one of our favorite Italian pizzerias, knowing that we wouldn't be around for the summer performance!

The whole cast and crew! You can see what the directors have to work with! It's really quite amazing that they can coordinate this many kids in such a short time to be prepared for a production that includes singing, choreography, and memorized lines!

Kenna was one of the animals this time, third from the left.

Arden as a cowboy! He always seemed to get roles that included painted-on facial hair, lol.

Charis (in the blue dress) was one of the not-so-nice sisters, a rather out-of-character role for her, but she got to enjoy the rehearsals with several of her friends, which always made for good fun.

Tobin--the only boy not in costume--was an assistant director this time and enjoyed having a different role in the production.

Oh, the Drama!

A couple of weeks ago Charis auditioned for the play Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with the same community youth theater that she participated in last fall (A Christmas Carol).  She was delighted when the director called her a few days later to offer her the part of the Mouse.  Somehow just hearing what role she would be playing made me smile--our sweet, petite little Charis, playing the part of a mouse?!  Why am I not surprised, LOL!

To her delight, when she received her copy of the script, she found out that she has quite a few lines and will be appearing in a number of scenes.  Since she was one of several orphans with no speaking parts in last fall's play, you can imagine how excited she is to actually be learning lines!  She must have really improved her performance level, as I know she did not spend a lot of time on her monologue this time around, and we were unable to have her attend the audition class two weeks beforehand as she did last fall.  The director had mentioned to her back then that she really needed to work on being louder and slowing down.  When I watched her practice her monologue for this audition, I could tell she had more confidence, and she was really trying hard to project her voice and move naturally around her "stage."  So, while I wasn't able to actually watch her audition (parents have to wait out in the hall!), I'm guessing that she pulled through with the volume and rate of her speech!

She is also excited that a number of the friends she made from the last performance are also participating in this play.  And I was glad to see that one of MY friends was at the parent meeting--her daughter had also auditioned and earned a role!  So it will be fun to meet up with her more often.

So, the craziness has begun.  Charis has rehearsals on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 11:30 - 1 p.m.  I think there are only two rehearsals she does NOT have to be at, due to the number of scenes she is in.  The show dates are the two weekends before Ted leaves for training, so thankfully he'll be here to help with the carpool shuffle as well as to see her perform. 

I'm so thankful she'll have this experience!  Ted and I really enjoy the opportunities we have to participate in the children's drama ministry once a month at our church, and it's neat for Charis to see how she can use her acting skills to serve Christ.  While she's not able to participate as an actress with the Kids' Street Live team, she does get to help as a worship leader with some other 5th and 6th grade girls.  So our KSL rehearsal and performance weekends are rather a family affair...even more so when Lucan wanders onto the stage wanting Mommy or Daddy to hold him during our rehearsals!