NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, Sept. 19.
PORT ANGELES — The Missoula Children’s Theatre and a 40-member cast of local kids will stage “Hansel and Gretel” — replete with a fierce sixth-grade witch — today and Saturday in the Peninsula College Little Theater, with admission by donation.
Curtain times are 6:30 p.m. today and 2 p.m. Saturday at the theater on the main campus at 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
Israel Gonzalez and Amiya Bowen, both 10, star in the title roles while Kiera Woodward, 11, portrays the witch in the Grimm fairy tale about a brother and sister who outwit one mean grown-up.
This version is written by Jim Caron, with music and lyrics by Michael McGill — with just two Missoula Children’s Theatre staffers doing the producing and directing.
Hamilton Elementary School teacher Lisa McCoy won a $3,100 Port Angeles Education Foundation grant to bring the Missoula thespians — who have previously come to Sequim schools — to Port Angeles for the first time.
McCoy, in her 13th year at Hamilton, marveled at the Missoula Children’s Theatre method: bringing all props, makeup and costumes for a show to be put on within one week.
Missoula staffers Erik Montague and Courtney Kirby have taught the students songs and parts, harnessing the energy of dozens of actors in kindergarten up through sixth grade.
They’ve also taught workshops in Hamilton’s classrooms, McCoy said.
With “Hansel and Gretel,” she added, “every kid who tried out got a part.”
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
