The peewee drama program at Canora Composite School has developed into something far greater than just drama.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 There was 鈥渁 pretty full house鈥� for the drama club鈥檚 presentation of Crazy Characters on December 2, said Andrew Hoffman, the director.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 What the audience saw was more than just a play put on by peewee performers. The play was an original piece written by the students and Hoffman. In addition to acting in the play, the characters also were the actors in videos which were made to enhance the live production.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淲e seemed to have quite a positive response to our Aesop Olympics play last year, which was an original piece written by myself and the students,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hen I started thinking about this year's play, it felt as though there was a certain hype (in my mind, at least) that we had to live up to, so I thought that doing something similar to last year might be the way to go.鈥�
Following the same format as last year, the group took well known literary pieces and 鈥減ut our own bizarre twist on them,鈥� said Hoffman.
However, the group wanted to look at doing something a little more modern.
鈥淪o we decided to go with literary characters that were well known among children and adults,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n the end, the three book collections we chose were: Where's Waldo, The Pigeon, and Calvin and Hobbes.鈥�
They started by taking Waldo and making him into an international spy, with all the supporting characters either working with him or against him. Waldo's opposing character, Odlaw, is the head of a world-wide crime syndicate who is determined to capture Waldo.
The Pigeon is a well-known character with children. They find the books amusing because the Pigeon loses his temper in every single book.
鈥淪o we thought the natural move was to put the Pigeon in anger management therapy.鈥�
Calvin and Hobbes is the only scene that is not a spoof, said Hoffman. 鈥淲e took a storyline straight out of the comic and turned it into a live scene. Calvin has a history test, and rather than study for it, he brings a secret weapon (Stupendous Man) to help him pass.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The response was quite positive, said Hoffman. The drama group invited the Canora Junior Elementary School students over to join most of the CCS students in watching the dress rehearsal in the afternoon on December 2.
鈥淲e got quite a few laughs in general. The little ones seemed to love all the characters because they recognized them from books they have read.鈥�
Hoffman said some of the most well received characters were: Odlaw, the Pigeon, and Calvin (A.K.A Stupendous Man).
鈥淭he videos that we filmed were quite well received by the audience,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 personally received quite a few comments on the Where's Waldo movie trailer we shot. During the show, the introductory video we made for the Pigeon got a big applause.聽 I was thrilled to see our videos get the response that they did. We worked very hard to get those videos completed.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In the Where鈥檚 Waldo scene, Josh Bugera played Waldo while Brody Harrison played Odlaw. Jason Krotenko and Daniel Howell played the goons while Mya Wolos was Wenda and Meadow Ostafie was Wizard Whitebeard.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 For the Pigeon scene, Elley Tomcala played Dr. Simmons while Bella Mykytyshyn played Pigeon. Others in the anger management session were: Kailey Sleeva as Charlie Brown, Latifah Severight as Lucy, Nyomee Hannah as The Grinch, Jayden Burym as Animal, Robin Skurat as Oscar the Grouch, Payton Hudye as Squidward and Kailey Sleeva as Duckling.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 For the Calvin and Hobbes scene, Abby Wilson played Calvin and Stupendous Man. Zoe Thomas was Hobbes. Drea Beblow was Miss Wormwood and Methyl Trask played Susie. Kailey Sleeva played Candace.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Hoffman was in charge of the sound and the video and Jacqueline Skurat was in charge of costumes and props.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Special thank yous went to: the Canora Parkland Regional Library for the donation of fabric towards the costumes; Jennifer Bisschop for the Santa Claus outfit; Kailey Sleeva for the garbage can prop; and Cecil Machnee for the fabrication of the psychiatric stand.
