RAPUNZEL

Oh . . . my . . . goodness, but I am having fun! I'm in the midst of directing East Grand Forks Senior High School's annual children's theatre production, which this year is Karen Boettcher-Tate's version of Rapunzel. Good scripts for children's theatre don't seem to be that easy to find, but I lucked out this summer when I found this one. It's a funny retelling of the familiar tale of Rapunzel with plenty of interesting characters and opportunities for zaniness on stage. It's been a good script to work on, and it's one that will appeal to our audiences of elementary students as well as their parents.

Best of all so far have been the students themselves! We sometimes refer to the children's theatre production as the freshman play because freshmen get first priority in casting; it's our effort to get ninth-graders involved in theatre at the high school without the pressure of competing with upperclassmen for parts. Sophomores through seniors, though, serve on all the crews and help to train the backstage freshmen. They're great helpers, and the two senior assistant directors/stage managers--Katie D. and Kaitlin W.--have been invaluable at organizing, errand-running, and working with small groups of actors when I'm working with others onstage.

And the cast is marvellous. They all suit their roles remarkably well, either because of brilliant casting (ahem) or because they took their assigned roles and made them their own. They all take direction very well and clearly "get" both the humor of the script and my own special humor that I'm imposing on the production! They even have, and share (respectfully), their own good ideas for adding to the comedy without going overboard. They listen extremely well and stay focused throughout rehearsals. They're good-humored and pleasant to be around. I can't believe what a good group this is.

Auditions were September 1 and 2. We had a read-through September 6 and blocked the show the 7th and 8th with a first run-through the 9th. They were off book September 12, and we've been working scenes and running the show this week (September 13-16). That leaves us next week to continue rehearsing before the public performance Monday, September 26. Our matinee performances for the elementary schools (three shows for about 300 kids at each) are September 29-30. Then we'll be done! From auditions to final strike, it will have been exactly one month. That's quick.

I highly recommend you see this show on the 26th at 7:00 P.M. in the Performing Arts Center (1420 4th Ave. NW, East Grand Forks, MN). Tickets are $2 apiece, available at the door--but EGF Public Schools K-12 students with an activity pass are admitted free! It's a funny show with a great cast and humor for audience members of all ages.