Dragons beware: Missoula Children’s Theatre is back preparing area children for “King Arthur’s Quest.” Auditions for the musical were Monday for children of all ages, kindergarten through 12th grade, and after just five days of rehearsal they will present their show to the public at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center on Saturday.
“We ask a lot of them, but they can do it,” said Gabriella Cuebas, theater actor/director for MCT. “It always comes together at the end.”
This is the fifth town in six weeks Cuebas has been to on her Midwest tour for MCT with fellow actor/director Brittany Ambler. They started the summer doing programs in Waco and Crockett, Texas, before moving into Kansas and working with children in Emporia and Topeka. Later, they will visit communities in Nebraska and Minnesota.
“It was hard, at first,” Ambler said of moving around so much. But she and Cuebas have become accustomed to it and now enjoy the travel and getting to meet lots of new people.
Each town has its own challenges.
“We had 15 kids our first week, so we know how to work with 15 and 64,” Cuebas said.
Some communities, like Iola, have been visited by Missoula Children’s Theatre for years. This is Iola’s 11th time, in fact. Other towns they visit have never had a summer theater program.
The rewards are great. Cuebas, in fact, got a job working for MCT after participating in the program as a child.
“I had never done theater before until I did a Missoula play,” she said. “I didn’t even know what theater was.”
Cuebas said lots of children who participate in the program were inspired to come back and work for the company as adults. She applied online and went through a rigorous process of interviews and auditions before getting hired for the summer. Missoula has people who work yearlong in all 50 states and 16 countries, but both Cuebas and Ambler are only working for the summer because this fall they will go back to school. Cuebas is studying marketing at Colorado State University and Ambler is a musical theater major at Illinois Wesleyan University.
They are not the only out-of-towners participating in the program. Last year, the Chagaris family of Delaware happened to be in town visiting Jen Chagaris’ parents, Jay and Sharon Thyer, and Jen and Mark’s three children joined in the fun. This year, the family planned their summer vacation around Missoula Children’s Theatre to ensure their kids could participate.
“They were thrilled,” she said. “They’ve all got the acting bug.”
Jen said the program was a great activity for her kids, and it also helped them to form friendships, since they don’t really know anyone in the area besides family. As they arrived for auditions, they immediately began saying hi to familiar faces from last year.
It also makes Jen feel good to see her children following in her footsteps; she loved drama in high school and it makes her proud to see her children onstage at the Bowlus.
“It’s always good to come home,” she said.
Traci Plumlee, assistant program director and finance manager at the Bowlus, said the program was a real confidence booster for children who participate.
“They can do something different and step outside the box,” she said. “It’s neat to see how proud they are when they’re onstage and people are applauding them.”
Plumlee said their Missoula Children’s Theatre program was unique from many other towns because it is completely free for the children to participate in. There are four major trusts that fund the program each year. This year, it is the Daniels Bequest.
“We are, as far as we know, the only group in the country that does this program free of charge,” Plumlee said. “It’s $150 to $200 plus for week-long programs elsewhere in the country.”
Keeping the program free makes it more accessible for families. Also, because Iola is a smaller community, they rarely become so full that they have to turn children away. In larger towns and cities the competition for these programs can be fierce.
“Sometimes there are more opportunities in small towns than in big cities,” Plumlee said.
Like last year’s play, “Blackbeard the Pirate,” this year’s performance of “King Arthur’s Quest” is a musical. Plumlee speculated that it makes it easier for children to learn their lines because they tend to learn a lot through interactive songs as youngsters.
“It’s really amazing they can learn everything in such a short amount of time and put on such a polished performance,” she said.
Ambler said one of the things she loved about working with children is that they take more risks than adults do in their performances. They don’t internalize and worry about what others will think.
“Kids just go for it,” Ambler said. “It’s awesome.”
“King Arthur’s Quest” will be performed at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Bowlus. The performance is open to the public for a modest admission of $3 for adults and $2 for children ages 5 and up. If children were unable to make the auditions this week, attending the play is a great way to see if it’s something they’d like to participate in next year, Plumlee said.
“I’d love to see more people from the community attend,” she said.
Kids delight in summer theater
