Mt. Blue Theater Company headlines evenings of theater March 11 & 12

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The cast and crew before their performance in Skowhegan
The Mt. Blue Theater Company cast and crew before their performance in Skowhegan at last week’s Regional One Act Festival. Performed was the student-written and directed one act play, “Ears,” written by Julian Thomson and Alan Sherrod. Two evenings of student performances will be held on March 11 & 12 at the Mt. Blue Campus. (Photos courtesy of Deborah Muise)
Drew Crockett
Drew Crockett was awarded to the festival all cast for his acting at last week’s Regional One Act Festival.

FARMINGTON – The Mt. Blue Theater Company will host evenings of theater on March 11 and 12 at 7 p.m. in the Bjorn Auditorium at Mt. Blue High School.

The high school company will continue a tradition of presenting a student-written and directed one act play. “Ears,” written by Julian Thomson and Alan Sherrod and directed by Thomson, is a retelling of the Russian Revolution from the vantage point of Santa’s workshop in the North Pole. A figurehead leader, Saint Nicholas (Josh Winters), is being manipulated by the charismatic but despotic Kasimir (Rowan Jellison) and Mrs. Claus (Natalie Wood). His workers, the elves, are on the verge of taking matters into their own hands lead by Yakov (Jon Lesko) and Viktor (Drew Crockett). Think Animal Farm but with a dreary Christmas theme. Also starring in the show are Emma Haywood, Lauren Duvall, Abby Howell, Ian Goding, Jacob Mealey, Tommy Eng, Maggie Murray, Ike Libby, Sophie Seigle, Julianna Labul, and Zachary Armstrong.

Thomson and Sherrod began writing this play about a year ago inspired by a dream that Thomson had, plus an interest in socialism and Russian history. Since then they have worked with English teacher Dan Ryder on the script, they’ve worked with theater director Deborah Muise to cast the show and rehearse it, and they’ve performed the show at last week’s Regional One Act Festival in Skowhegan where Crockett was awarded to the festival all cast for his acting, and Thomson and Sherrod were awarded a special commendation for play writing.

Also performing is the Mt. Blue Middle School theater group in “The Secret Life of Charlie Wayne” by teacher/director Kim Fast. This is the story of Charlie Wayne who can’t get a date for the semi formal. The girl he loves can’t remember his name, and the bullies keep putting him in the trash can. Batman is around to fight crime, but isn’t it odd that Batman and Charlie are never seen together?

The evening will also feature the middle school and high school DI teams. Destination Imagination (DI) offers seven challenges. Each Challenge is open-ended and enables student teams (which consist of seven members) to learn and experience the creative process from imagination to innovation. Academic tournaments take place around the world where teams have the opportunity to present their eight-minute solution to trained appraisers. Students have fun and gain confidence in their ability to solve any challenge. The team and only the team works for about four months on their challenge and then presents their solution at the tournament. If they are the top scoring team, they earn a special invitation to compete at the Global Finals in Tennessee during May. This year’s teams include middle school students: Kennedy Savage, Charlie Eng, Emma White, Chelsie Berkey, Kaylie Brisard, Emily Holmes, and Taylor Brisard, and high school students Avery Whitney, Mackenzie Wells, Ashlynn Pease, Eric Mikrut, Justin Marston, Dawson Tolman, and Logan Whitley who present their showcases.

The curtain goes up at 7 p.m. on these nights of great performances by local students. The show costs $2.50 for students and $3.50 for adults and the proceeds will benefit the three student groups.

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