It was another wonderful performance of Missoula Children’s Theatre with 54 children grades 1 to 11 putting on Alice in Wonderland.
Maddy Chitty from South Carolina and Tyler Matanick from Ohio were in town directing the performance with auditions on Sept. 11 with Humboldt being the first stop on their Canadian tour as Missoula directors.
By Sept. 13, Matanick says the kids know everything from lines to blocking to choreography. After that it is going through the show to get everything down pat before the two performances on Sept. 16.
With the plot based on the book version of the Lewis Carroll classic, the story has been made simplified for child actors with three different Alices; a small, a medium, and a big. The audience does not see the cookie or the potion that changes her size, but it is implied, says Matanick.
The Alices spend their time in Wonderland trying to figure out their identity while still meeting the same characters; including the Queen of Hearts, the caterpillar, and the Mad Hatter and his tea party guests.
“She eventually finds out who she is and she helps the Queen of Hearts find out who she is too,” says Chitty, with Alice breaking the Queen of that awful habit of saying, ‘off with their heads,’ to everyone she meets.
Victoria Gasper played Big Alice and learned a lot from being part of Missoula, she says.
As well as studying for a bigger part in the production, Gasper says she learned a lot about acting including facial expressions and blocking.
“You have to make sure you face the audience all the time and don’t turn away.”
While she was nervous for the Sept. 16 performances, Gasper says she had lots of fun with the two directors.
Teaching a whole performance in a week can be challenging, says Chitty, but they start with the building blocks. For a song for example, says Chitty, they start with the rhythm of the words, the tone, the melody, and then the choreography.
Through Missoula the kids learn so much more than just acting, says both Chitty and Matanick, like public speaking for one thing as well as other important tools.
“You learn a show in a week so if you can do that, you can pay attention, follow rules, and learn a lot more than just a show in a week if you put your mind to it.”
Dealing with such a wide range of ages also comes with its challenges but the play was written with all ages in mind, says Chitty.
“We’ve had shows with 18-year-olds and we’ve had shows where the oldest one is 10, so you get to play and add on for the older kids as well which can get really fun.”
Matanick is always amazed at how much kids can take in. They can memorize and learn better than adults can, he says.
“We have so many things in our life, we have to remember this and that. They’re like this is the only thing this week that they care about. They absorb everything.”
In the 30 minutes between audition and the first practice, Matanick says they already have lines memorized.
“I can’t even remember what I had for breakfast,” laughs Chitty.
Seeing the kids being confident and carefree on stage is the best part of the theatre, says Chitty, since kids either have that already or learn that through being part of Missoula.
“Sometimes you’ll have a kid who is so quiet and shy on Monday and by Saturday they’re singing a solo. That’s what’s really special about this program.”
That excitement in the kids as they perform is something that Matanick got as a kid when he was performing himself, he says. Being able to watch that is something special, he says, now that he is directing and making a career out of performing.
Chitty and Matanick also had the opportunity to spread their love of theatre into the schools doing 13 workshops at Humboldt Public School, Lake Lenore School, and Three Lakes School teaching everything from set design to make up.
