You may be seeing spots this weekend, but don’t worry, they come with a warm hug. Or perhaps a lick.
A 58-member cast consisting of first-graders up through high school will present Disney’s “101 Dalmations: Kids” at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center Friday afternoon and Saturday morning.
“It’s the largest group we’ve ever had for a summer production,” said Mandy Moyer, executive director of the Bowlus, who also is leading the Center’s Summer Theatre Camp.
It’s the second year for the camp, not to be confused with the Children’s Summer Theatre Workshop, which is in July.
The theatre camp, Moyer explained, is Theater 101 for kids as young as first grade and replaces the Missoula Children’s Theatre traveling workshop group.
The reason behind the change is that the Missoula, Montana-based program “started limiting how many little kids we could have in a production,” Moyer said. “That was the whole reason we did Missoula, so little kids could have a summer theater option.”
Moyer said the theatre company’s response was, “Well, it’s just hard to do with little kids.”
“I see that. And it’s true,” she said. After almost two weeks of corralling 58 kids, “I’m not sure if this was a good or bad decision,” she said with a weak smile.
She then shakes off her second doubts, straightens her back and says emphatically, “But it’s the whole reason we signed with Missoula. And we paid them quite a bit of money.”
Once it became clear to Moyer that the Missoula company was not living up to its end of the bargain, the decision to strike out on her own was easier.
Well, “easier” is not the right word.
“I was like, OK, we’ll just try this and see what happens. Now, did I expect to have 58 kids?”
Last summer’s initial camp of 15 pulled off “Schoolhouse Rock.”
The good news is that the kids’ version of the musical is only 45 minutes long.
The even better news is that it’s downright adorable.
THE ACTORS and crew hail from as far away as Chanute and Toronto and include Moran, Humboldt, Yates and Iola.
