Prairie Fire Children’s Theatre dropped into town for another whirlwind production last week. More than 100 Annandale Middle School students tried out for parts as vagabonds, slaves, maidens and the like Monday, March 10, in preparation for the week-long program that ended with a production of “Aladdin” on Friday, March 14. Eighty of the hopefuls received parts in the musical comedy about a vagabond boy who hits the jackpot when he finds the Genie of the Lamp and gets his wishes granted. Eric Mann, an eighth-grader at AMS, played Aladdin. He described his character as “a thief who turns good and runs around and falls in love with the princess. Then he gets greedy with the lamp and everybody abandons him.” Of course the tension is reconciled in the end and Aladdin turns to good again. Emily Spiegler played Serena, the princess of Aladdin’s dreams who doesn’t want to be a princess. “Serena gets transported to Africa by the evil magician (played by director Nich Radcliffe) and is rescued by Aladdin.” Other characters include the sultan, played by eighth-grader Ben Seavey. “I like the sultan because he’s kind of funny,” Seavey said. “He’s a little bit slow and he believes things he reads in the National Enquirer. He’s kind of comical.” Last year Seavey played Friar Tuck in the Prairie Fire Theatre’s production of “Robin Hood.” “I’m not too nervous,” he said during practice Wednesday, March 12. Seavey’s classmate, Mike Tengwall, plays the vizier, the sultan’s right hand man. “He thinks he has all this power, but he’s just a big dork,” Tengwall said of his character. Students were also picked to play the parts of Harmonis, Alladin’s mother; the Genie of the Ring; Zanda the tiger; the Giant Gemstones; the Vagabonds; the Maidens of the Palace and the Slaves of the Lamp and the Ring. Bailey Koval, sixth-grade, and Ryan Paumen, eighth-grade, played merchants at Friday’s performance. Koval’s character sold blankets, and Paumen’s sold baseball caps. “I’m on quite a bit,” Koval said. “I stand in the back and try to sell things.” Ben Hylla portrayed vagabond number three. “I mooch off other people and get to ride a camel off stage,” he said. The camel was played by friend and fellow vagabond Mike Planer. “It’s a lot of fun, just to get silly and be goofy,” Hylla said. The Prairie Fire Theatre has been coming to Annandale for the last 11 years for the week-long program that gets kids involved in theatre. Two traveling directors teach the students the ins and outs of acting and help them learn their parts. Prairie Fire Theatre also supplies all the props and scripts. Assisting Radcliffe was director Kristy Maynard. She also played the part of the Genie of the Lamp. “The kids really learn to work together as a group to put on a good show,” Annandale organizer Pam Peterson said.
Be the first to comment