‘Cinderella’ Comes To Liberty Theater

DAYTON - The classic story of a lost slipper and true love will come to life on the stage at the Liberty Theater when The Mis­soula Children's Theater returns to Dayton for a week-long residency that will conclude with two per­formances of "Cinderella" on Friday, Aug. 17, and Saturday, Aug. 18.

The residency will run from Aug. 13 through 17 and will include rehearsals and some small workshops for school-aged children and teens, Liberty Theater Manager Kirsten Schober said.

"This is a wonderful op­portunity for young people to work with professionally trained actors and directors who teach them line mem­orization, performance and stage direction and even light and sound design for the older children," Schober said.

The program can ac­commodate 55 to 60 kids, Schober said, and in the past they have not had to turn any students away.

The week will start with auditions at 10 a.m. on Monday, Aug.13, at the Liberty Theater. The audi­tion process will help the Missoula Children's The­ater representatives assign the children to roles in the show. The auditions will also eliminate participants if more than 60 register for the program, Schober said.

Immediately after the audition, rehearsals will begin.

Rehearsals will involve memorizing lines and mu­sic, as well as teach kids how to perform onstage, Schober said. Outside of rehearsal, the Missoula rep­resentatives will hold work­shops to help the young actors prepare for the show.

"Last year, we picked a mime workshop, im­provisation and makeup," Schober said. "Improv is one of the more impor­tant ones, helping you be natural onstage and helping with responding to the un­expected."

Chelle Robinson, the Missoula Children's The­ater marketing associate, said the rehearsals are in­tense and do not include a lot of downtime, although not every participant will be called for every rehearsal.

Robinson said the chil­dren's theater supplies the costumes and the sets, and the shows are even written by their staff members.

The version of "Cinder­ella" that will be performed in Dayton was written by Jim Karen, one of the founders of the children's theater.

Robinson said the show is much more like the ac­tual fairy tale with original music.

"It's not music from the (Disney) movie or anything," Robinson said. "There's no 'Bibbidi-bob­bidi boo.' It's definitely a very fun adaptation of the story."

Robinson said Missoula Children's Theater has produced a show in Dayton every year since 2002 and the arrangement is set up by the Touchet Valley Arts Council.

Schober said the pro­gram has been wonderful and successful and last year's program, "Snow White," brought lots of friends and family mem­bers in to see what the local kids could do.

"It's amazing how the show comes together in one week," Schober said. "Kids are like sponges, they soak up all of the information from the directors."

Schober said she is hap­py to have the program at the Liberty Theater because one of the Touchet Val­ley Arts Council's goals is to include an education program. The children's theater does a good job of that, she said.

"It takes a lot of work to create those (educational) programs," Schober said. "And Missoula Children's Theater has that stuff to­gether so they get that young group exposed to theater."