Vail Community Programs welcomed back Missoula Children’s Theater (MCT) this summer and presented “Red Riding Hood” at the Vail Theater of the Arts. As Red put it, “Life is no picnic when you stray from the trail!”
The local cast featured Lauren Liddicoat as Red Riding Hood, with Selah Miles, Claire Powell, and Taylor Gauthier as her three Girl Friends. Lucy Blanchard is Little Loveable Wolf, while Natalie Cox, Ava Young, Janae Hatch, Kendal Gauthier, and Rebecca Hirabayashi are featured as the Hood Family. Also featured are The Three Little Pigs played by Amelia Kitzmiller, Scarlett Romero, Ivy Roessner, with Ethan Shaw as The Woodsman, Nayara Cressman as The Locksmith, Kade Sutton as Ranger Rooney, and Jacob Hatch as The Boy Who Cries Wolf. To complete the ensemble Elise Hatch, Alana Valencia, Kaylen Gauthier, Sadie Roark, Natalie Cox appeared as the Forest Shadows; Bella Staniszewski, Alyanna Sanchez, Lexi Warren as the Wolfgang. Jes Parker and Caitlin Hirabayashi served as Assistant Directors throughout the week, and the production was accompanied by CJ Chen on the piano.
This is a wonderful opportunity for community children to participate with a full theater production company. The camp lasts for one week in June, and they experience everything from auditions, casting, what to do backstage, and, of course, the performance. MCT provides two professional actors/directors, five exciting days of team building, twenty focused hours of rehearsal, a number of proud cast members, and even more smiling faces. Missoula Children’s Theatre and local students have presented original musical adaptations of classic tales like Princess and the Pea, Rapunzel, Peter and Wendy, Gulliver’s Travels, and, of course now, Red Riding Hood.
For our part, Vail Community Programs provide a full day for our campers, combining the experience of MCT and two Vail staff drama teachers to round out their exposure to the theater. The Vail teachers provide workshops and games to help teach techniques of projection, stage presence and more. We have partnered with MCT five times now and yet every time it is an amazing and surprising experience to see the final production after only one week.
