Start ’em young

Last Monday, students at Lakeview Elementary School auditioned for a play. By Saturday, they were on the stage.

Third- through fifth-grade students at Lakeview could participate in Prairie Fire Children’s Theatre last week in a production of “Pinocchio.”

Prairie Fire Children’s Theatre is based in Barrett and sends two actors to schools for a week. At the beginning of the week students can audition and by the end of the week they will act in a play.

For this production, Chris Freeman and Elizabeth Dunn came to Lakeview from Prairie Fire Children’s Theatre. Freeman played the parts of Gepetto and Tempesto and Dunn played the part of The Fox.

Third-grade teacher Anna Nordlocken, fourth-grade teacher Melinda Talamantes, special-education teacher Joie Willner and fifth-grade teacher Matt Bitz all helped out with the production, as well.

Nordlocken said Prairie Fire Children’s Theatre has come to Lakeview for the past three years. There is one production during the school year and two during the summer. Nordlocken said Sibley Elementary School also works with Prairie Fire Children’s Theatre.

Last year, Lakeview students worked on “Aladdin” during the school year and “Beauty and the Beast” and “Alice in Wonderland” over the summer.

Nordlocken said the practice during the week is intensive, and this year the practice was cut a little short due to the weather. She said the students were slated to have performances on Friday and Saturday, but Friday’s performance was replaced with a practice when school was dismissed early due to weather Thursday.

The Prairie Fire Children’s Theatre program is free to students and includes transportation to and from the high school auditorium. Nordlocken said that the Lakeview Elementary School Organization — the school’s parent organization — funds the program.

Nordlocken and Talamantes said this is usually their students’ first experience in theater, and they make friends, build confidence and have experiences they’ve never had before.

“It’s very incredibly awesome that they’re given this opportunity,” Talamantes said.

Nordlocken said students can’t wait to be in third grade to audition for the play. All students who audition get a part, she said, and the productions can have up to 75 students in them.

Lakeview has about 50 to 70 students that participate. This year there were 46 actors in the play, due to some last-minute dropouts.

Nordlocken said she was proud of the students’ hard work and said it’s “awesome” to see students doing things outside of their school day. For many students who participate, she said, they don’t do a lot of other extracurricular activities.

Lakeview students performed “Pinocchio” at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

 

Cast

Pinocchio: Dakota Jahnke

Cricket: Lancelot Marcks

Blue Fairy: Kaylee Evans

Spirits of the Forest: Madalynn Sevcik, Maura McParland, Sydney Steene, Hattie Nelson, Erin Boorsma, Hatty Adams, Ashley Fethke

Arlecchino: Patrick Holcomb

Pantalone: Drew Monson

Capitano: Timothy Chalmers

Isabella: Jordan Mullenbach

Zanni: Laura Decoteau

Puppets: Emma Prihoda, Michael Flaherty, Judd Moller, Hailee Schmitt

Cat: Gretta Larson

Badger: Hanna Willner

Weasel: Alexandra Funk

Ferret: Whitney Mullenbach

Vermin: Elijah Raatz, Brennan Gilliam, Alannah Flatness

Toni: Michael Minear

Chaz: Joseph Yoon

Spaz: Tanner Conn

Hooligans: Abigail Dolph, Deven Dufour, Tokota Hurley-Mellard, Skyla Anderson, Henry Buendorf, Annabelle Lundell, Kathryn Passingham

Farmer: Mackenzie Monson

Constable: Addison Herr

Judge: Ella Bordeaux

Mime: Emily Komoszewski

Paper Boy: Paige Monson

Waiter: Cassie Nielsen

Townsfolk: Paris Bryand, Satera Villerreal, Riley Kelly, Alazah Trevino

Gepetto and Tempesto: Chris Freeman

The Fox: Elizabeth Dunn

Sawyer Nelson and Nathan Reichl, high school students, also assisted the production.