Medstead Central School elementary students presented drama performances April 18.
Leading into the gymnasium were photographs of the cast of the upcoming event lending an ambience from the beginning of the evening.
Upon entry to the auditorium the amount of effort employed was clear. The stage was set and chairs and bleachers were set up to accommodate the crowd of roughly 100 people of all ages.
The event commenced shortly after its scheduled time and was introduced by Mr. Schneider, principal of the school. Once introductions were finished and the enthusiastic audience settled to their seats, the older group of elementary performers took to the stage with A Prop Too Far.
The play itself was an adaptation of the timeless classic The Princess and the Frog. Set in a classroom, with mimes behind acting out the story told by the character playing the teacher, it kept well to the beginning of the original tale. Impressively, the youth showed strong ability to vocally project and remember complex lines.
The moral of the original tale — the obligation of a daughter to keep promises, in this case of a questionable nature with the frog — was retained. In fact, the same moral was reiterated at the end of the play as a joking lesson of not trusting mimes and always keeping promises. The play diverted direction before celebrating the end of the original tale as the princess throws aside the frog and stands up for values of her own.
The school’s Glee Club performed songs previously brought to competition. The introducer noted Blueberry Hill was chosen with their future audience in mind, being those at seniors’ residences in Rabbit Lake and Spiritwood.
The youngest of the elementary drama groups took to the stage with an amusing adaptation of the classic Little Red Riding Hood. The narrator, a third grader, maintained the set and his lines with a steady bravado. The wolf was played by three different students. In a twist on the tale of old, the grandmother was not meek, but rather a bodybuilder ready to eat the wolf for lunch. Only with the intervention of the character playing a park ranger did the chase to protect the endangered animal begin.
