Creating Characters
traveling theater company has everything except a cast
Towing costumes, set displays, scripts, props, makeup, lighting, and experienced directors, the Missoula Children’s Theatre’s little red truck will be arriving in Chippewa Falls in mid-June, lacking only a lively cast – which Chippewa Falls and the surrounding area will provide. With room for 50 to 60 kids in grades 1-12, the Montana-based theatre company will host auditions on Monday, June 14 to kick off their week-long residency of daily practices and workshops. True to its Brothers Grimm origins, The Frog Prince will indeed involve a frog who turns into an attractive prince after a spoiled princess breaks the “spell” – but this original adaptation happens to be a full-blown musical. Annually, the Missoula Children’s Theatre tours all 50 states, 3 Canadian Territories, 5 provinces, and 16 countries for these week-long stints – a total of 1,300 communities. The Heyde Center has welcomed the itinerant producers to their performing space once before, for a production of Rumpelstiltskin. According to MCT’s motto, “On Monday, they’re cast as characters … by Saturday, they’ve gained character – the kind that really counts.”
The Frog Prince • June 19 • Heyde Center for the Arts, 3 South High Street, Chippewa Falls • 3pm and 7pm • adults $7, seniors $6, youth 18 and under $2 • 726-9000 • www.cvca.org and www.mctinc.org
