Greasers hit Plains

It was a time when the most important thing about a boyfriend was the quality of his car.

The students of Plains High school brought the musical “Grease” to life last weekend at the Sanders County Fairground Pavillion. Seats were few and far between and at the end performance, children crowded up to the edge of the set so they could watch the play.

Wendy Starkey, now in her fourth year directing Plains’ productions, said that the students had been begging to do “Grease” for awhile.

“It was definitely their idea,” she said.

When Starkey told people the students were performing “Grease,” “it raised a few eyebrows in the community,” she said. The actors ended up performing the school version, which had all the songs but dodged issues like teenage pregnancy, smoking and drinking.

While the play may not have included cigarettes, it did include classic 1950s-style songs like Summer Nights, Greased Lightning and We Go Together (like rama lama lama ke ding a de dinga a dong…). It also included a real Greased Lightning… a “car” (or actually, a golf cart donated by the Boles) which puttered around the stage to the delight of the audience.

Starkey said “Grease” was one of the most ambitious projects she had taken on. The set featured two rooms and fold-in walls. The cast included 28 people. Starkey said she’s never worked with such a big cast before.

“It gave me a few more gray hairs, for sure,” she said.

Cast members were Taylor Boles as Sandy, Kenny Griggs as Danny, Christian Beech as Rizzo, Christian Zigler as Marty, Bethany Mack as Frenchy, Julie Zdenek as Jan, Curran Rosich as Kenickie, Patrick Strate as Roger, Colter Marple as Doody, Dylan Francesconi as Sonny, Abbie Starkey as Patty Simcox, Drew Mack as Eugene, Samantha Garrison as Miss Lynch and Kristi Hanke as Cha-Cha. The Rydell Girls were Mahala Harris, Catherine Powell, Kelsey Beagley and Je’anna Farrar. The Greasers were Jon Zeigler, Jared Sine and Kris Beech. Alex Allestad, Chris Halling and Robert Hicks handled the lights and the sound.

Though the job seemed overwhelming, Starkey said local businesses pitched in to make her life a little easier, including the Printery, which did the printing, including the Thunder Birds’ emblems on the backs of their coats, and the Little Bitterroot, which helped dig up period clothes. Kim Beech was the vocal coach, Cathy Emmett helped with hair and props, set construction was by Seth Beech, cast, crew and parents, Ed and Sharon Hanke created “Greased Lightning,” Daphne and Kevin Boles helped with props, Linda Knight performed costume alterations, Mrs. Cole and the art students provided the prom corsages and the costumes came from Mary Lou Hermes. According to the program, “heavy lifting and manly stuff” came from Bill and Paul.

This wasn’t the first critically acclaimed performance from Plains. Starkey said the school walked away with a drama award at a contest in Missoula, despite being the tiniest school to enter.

“We definitely put Plains on the map,” she said.

Starkey hasn’t chosen next spring’s production, but said it will probably be a drama.