PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Community Players Children’s Theater will present a Shakespearean couplet this weekend, one a performance full of references to the bard’s plays and the other a musical.
The production — which involves 35 children from 8 to 16 — will be presented at 6:30 tonight and Saturday, with 2 p.m. matinees Saturday and Sunday at the Port Angeles Community Playhouse at 1235 E Lauridsen Blvd.
Tickets will be $5 for children younger than 12, $10 for adults and $20 for a family of four or more. They will be available only at the door beginning one half hour before each performance.
“Becoming Shakespeare” by Charlie Lovett, directed by Barbara Frederick, tells the story of a young Will Shakespeare and a troupe of actors writing plays and meeting the fictional people who frequent ‘The Ball and Chain,” a local B&B, all of whom audience members may recognize from Shakespeare’s works.
The second play, “The Taming of Katy Lou,” is from a book by L. R. Karcz, with music and lyrics by Bill Francoeur. It is directed by the team of Jamie Robinson and students Olivia Wray and Belle Robinson.
The musical is set in the western town of New Padua.
“Our kids have been asking to do Shakespeare and a musical and luckily we found plays that go together in one production this year and the kids are having a great experience learning about Shakespeare,” said Frederick, coordinator of the children’s theater.
The children’s theater involves children in all aspects of a production.
“They are on stage and behind it, they are the costume designers and set painters, and will run the lights,” Frederick said.
“Letting them participate in all the different parts of telling a story gives them a greater appreciation of their role.”
“The mission of the Port Angeles Community Players Children’s Theater is theater for kids, by kids,” Frederick said in a press release.
The combined cast members are Piper Bullington, Lillie Commeree, Josey Cooley, Eve Dry, Christian Golden, Zade Harris, Zoie Harris, Kaelyn Herring, Michael Herring, McHenry Miller, Leif Moody, Sage Moody, Lily Moseley, Zeek Richards, Belle Robinson, Lainey Rudd, Isaac Rutledge, Julia Rutledge, Veronica Schaefermeyer, Gryphon Shields, Leilani Thomason, Jonah Thompson, Zoe Truckenmiller, Aria Turrey, Selah Turrey, Finn Waknitz, Mabel Waknitz, Rai Warzecha, ShyAnn Welch, Piper Wikert, Henry Wendel and Olivia Wray.
Members of the cast of “Becoming Shakespeare” are, from left, Piper Bullington, Gryphon Shields, Kaelyn Herring, Leilani Thomason, Michael Herring, Olivia Wray, Zade Harris and Lillie Commeree. (Brandi Welch)
