Robinson Crusoe coming to Superior

| May 13, 2010 2:55 PM

The Missoula Children's Theater is bringing Robinson Crusoe to Superior Elementary. It will be presented for your enjoyment by the Superior Elementary Players on Friday, May 16 at 7:00 p.m. in the Superior Elementary Gym. Please make plans to attend the "superior" production.

A tour team from the Missoula Children Theater arrives in a given town with a set, lights, costumes, props and make-up.

They bring everything it takes to put on a play, everything that is except the cast. Rather, the team holds an open audition and casts 50-60 local students to perform in the production.

They spend the rest of the week rehearsing and then a public performance is presented.

Pam Lewis, Superior Elementary secretary, said that it is always a delight to see how it all turns out.

"It's amazing what they can get them (students) to do in such a short time," Lewis said.

Students range from kindergarten through eighth grade. Auditions in Superior were held Monday, May 10, and students were cast into different roles for the play. By Friday, the students should be ready to perform.

The Missoula Children's Theatre (MCT), the nation's largest touring children's theater, has been touring extensively for 35 years now from Montana to Japan and will visit nearly 1,300 communities this year with 47 teams of tour actor/directors.

All MCT shows are original adaptations of classic children's stories and fairytales, a twist on the classic stories that you know and love. Also included in the residency are three enrichment workshops presented by the tour actor/directors.

Creativity, social skills, goal achievement, communication skills and self-esteem are all characteristics that are attained through the participation in this unique, educational project.

MCT's mission is the development of life skills in children through participation in the performing arts.

MCT is based in Missoula, Mont., and also runs many local programs.

These include musical theatre day-camps and performing arts classes for local children, a summer residency performing arts camp for students from around the world and the MCT Community Theatre, which creates an arena for local talent of all ages to participate in large-scale productions that attract audiences from western Montana.

For students interested in a career in the performing arts, MCT has developed Next Step Prep-The Academy for Musical Theatre-providing high school students an affordable opportunity to train and study with well-known professionals in the field of music, dance and acting to prepare for college.