Curtain!

Tonight we went to see two of our closest friends' kids perform in a production of Hansel and Gretel put on by the Missoula Children's Theater, which is an absolutely FABULOUS organization. Based in Missoula, Montana, the MCT comes to town, and in one week they hold auditions, cast, rehearse, and put on two performances. Good performances. Musicals.

They do this by having a system. There are two (young) adults who travel with the production. At least one of them plays a central part in the show - a kind of narrator part - and is therefore on stage most of the time to guide and prompt if necessary. Many of the songs are call-and-response, and therefore easy to learn quickly. The parts are tiered by age, with increasing complexity as they kids get older. So, for example, our friends' twins were (at the age of 5) among the dozen or so bats in last year's production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and this year they played the birds who famously eat the cookie crumbs in Hansel and Gretel. The parts become more distinct and complex until the oldest kids, in their teens, have extensive speaking parts and singing solos, and also work as assistant directors and learn to run the lights and sound. In less than one week.

Even the sets - while beautifully made - are modular and break down easily. At the end of the week, the two energetic young staff people pack the whole production up into a covered pickup truck, and drive on to the next town. Nearly 30 of these teams travel to all 50 states, five Canadian provinces, and 15 other countries, working with over 50,000 youngsters each year. They first developed this method to take their work to small rural towns in Montana, and at some point along the way they realized it could work anywhere. I can only imagine the lives of these young staff - probably right out of college, people who must really love both acting and children, and be willing to live on the road, week after week, setting up and striking the same set, handing out and collecting costumes, teaching the same story and songs over and over...

All to introduce children to the theater, to show them the magic of it. Seeing our little friends so excited to be in a real-live play, seeing the simplicity and beauty of the system (because Cousin Flora loves an elegant system) - it makes me want to move to Montana and work for them, I swear.