“The Greatest Race”

DAYTON - It's Monday afternoon. Auditions are over, and the roles have been cast. Now 48 children in the Touchet Valley have just four days to rehearse for a live, musical per­formance they'll stage in front of friends, family members and total strangers this coming Friday and Saturday nights at the Liberty Theater. For most of the children, who range in grade level from first through 12th, the annual summer play in Dayton is their only shot at experiencing theater arts - and they welcome the opportunity with a mixture of excitement and nervousness.

Twelve-year-old Morgan Fatheree of Dayton is an expe­rienced actress. She's had roles in eight plays, at the Liberty Theater and at church.

"The most difficult part of being in a play is having a lot of lines to memorize," she said, explaining that she studies her lines on her own at home for about half an hour each day. "But I like it a lot. I love trying on all those difference costumes." It's a challenge, but Missoula Children's Theatre directors Jennifer Wills and Trish Kimbell say most of the kids don't know it can't be done. "With adults, they look at the amount of time - just 14 hours of rehearsal - and say it's impossible," Kimbell said. "The kids just do it. It's amazing what they can do."

This year the children are performing "The Tortoise Ver­sus the Hare: The Greatest Race." Most people have heard the traditional story of the tortoise and the hare, which teaches that tortoise's perseverance can win the race even against the much faster hare. But "The Tortoise Versus the Hare: The Greatest Race" takes the lesson further for kids as mammals and reptiles, who each believe they are "the greatest race," learn to work together and re­spect each other. "They learn that on the inside, they are all 'the greatest race,'" Wills said. The story is told as a news cast. Dayton resident Matthew Warren, 13, plays Bailey, a TV reporter. "It's the coolest part ever," he said Monday. "I have always wanted to report on stuff." This is Warren's fourth summer with Missoula Chil­dren's Theatre, which is an international traveling kids' theater program that has brought children's drama to Dayton since the Liberty Theater reopened in 2001, according to theater manager Reid Helford. The Liberty Theater pays all expenses for Missoula Children's Theatre to bring in directors, scripts, materials and costumes each summer so local kids can participate without paying any fees, Helford said. Grants from the Inland Northwest Community Foundation and donations from the Touchet Valley Arts Council Productions and the Dayton School District help the theater afford the program.

"We don't make any mon­ey with the program," Hel­ford said. "We do it for the kids and for the community."

Performances will take place Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 and $7 and are available online at www.libertytheater.org throughout the week, at the theater after 10:30 a.m. on Friday or at the door before each show.

Dayton fifth grader Kitty Lambert will have her first role in a play at the Liberty Theater this year. She plays Bonnie Bunny, the rabbit who gets lost and helps bring the mammals and reptiles to­gether in their search for her.

"I'm really excited," Lam­bert said.