Missoula Children鈥檚 Theater was in town again for another stellar performance, this year with 50 local child actors putting on 鈥淩apunzel鈥� on Sept. 17.
Brian Grest with Arts Humboldt says that Missoula is always a great opportunity to bring children鈥檚 theatre to Humboldt and is an opportunity they otherwise would not have.
Directors Seth Hollen and Monica Domena with Missoula started auditions on Monday Sept. 12 with the Humboldt actors and had everyone ready for two Saturday performances at the HCI auditorium.
Grest would like to thank the community for 鈥渃oming out in droves鈥� to support the kids.
鈥淚t鈥檚 very exciting for them to look out in the audience and see a full house.鈥�
Grest was also awed by Hollen and Domena鈥檚 direction and how they prepared the kids for an hour long performance in just five days.
Domena loves giving children the opportunity to fall in love with theatre, especially kids who are more introverted and do not know how talented they are.
鈥淭here are kids who haven鈥檛 been on stage before, they鈥檝e never done theatre before at all, they鈥檝e never seen a play, they don鈥檛 know anything about this sort of stuff. They realize how fun it is.鈥�
Social barriers can be difficult for kids to break, says Hollen. Performing can help with that.
Hollen says that he has seen plenty of kids terrified about going out onto a stage. When they are coaxed out and Hollen is there beside them, by the end of the play they are having the time of their lives, he says.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not about them doing theatre, it鈥檚 about them going out and doing something they don鈥檛 think they could do.鈥�
Domena and Hollen both say that they are amazed at what the kids can accomplish in just a week of rehearsal.
It is a crazy request, says Domena, but unlike adults who have that conflict with doubt, kids are different and do not have that sense of the impossible yet.
鈥淜ids aren鈥檛 at that age yet where they have that response of 鈥業 can鈥檛 do that鈥�. You just tell them, 鈥榯his is what we鈥檙e doing鈥� and they鈥檙e like, 鈥榦kay, I guess that鈥檚 what they are going to do.鈥欌��
Hollen started getting on to the stage early in life with auditions starting when he was 11-years-old.
For him, touring with Missoula is his way of giving back to everyone who has helped him along his own journey.
鈥淚 always looked at my directors as something that was unattainable. Now I鈥檓 in that directing role, looking at kids look at me with the same look I had when I had as a kid, which is really quite special to me.鈥�
Fifty Missoula teams go around to 17 different countries to help children get more involved in theatre.
Hollen and Domena are current touring Saskatchewan for 10 weeks, including Estevan this week, before heading back to the United States.
Arts Humboldt has been bringing Missoula to Humboldt since the disbanding of the Quill Plains Recreation Association.
Grest says Arts Humboldt has been filling in those gaps ever since.
鈥淭hat is one of the reasons Arts Humboldt actually formed in the first place. We noticed there were things missing in the community that we wanted to bring back and a voice in the community that maybe was lacking as well.鈥�
Missoula was supported by Potash Corp. Lanigan, the City of Humboldt, Humboldt Collegiate Institute, and Humboldt Public School, as well as seven local businesses who pitched in to provide care for the directors during their Humboldt stay.
