Ecole Okotoks Junior High School is preparing to bring the C.S. Lewis classic to the stage. Opening February 7th and two on Saturday the 8th.
This is a show for children that is so filled with laughter, thrills and wonderment that it can’t help but entertain adults as well. It definitely won't be just the children in the audience who will watch with rapt attention and beam with approval.

The plot is easy to follow, even for the youngest audience members – Siblings Lucy (Eve S), Edmund (Dallas C), Susan (Jojo G) and Peter (Alex P) unwittingly enter the massive wardrobe in a musty room of an ageing professor’s home where they have been sent to escape the Nazi bombings of London, only to find themselves in the fantastical world of Narnia! A world full of talking animals and mystical beasts, yet cursed to centuries of winter by the evil White Witch.

I got the chance to sit down with Samantha Langenberger playing the White Witch. It's always a strange thing playing the villain (especially when it's your first time on the stage like Sam)
I asked what it was like getting that role:
"So I've had a lot of people being like, I can't believe that's your voice because I changed my voice a lot. It's a lot deeper and I'm a lot louder but yeah, it is very different. I was not expecting to get this role." 

What are some of the challenges becoming that iconic villain:
"Oh god, okay. I had to do the scream for being the White Witch in multiple different parts and it took me so long to get the scream right because it was like... it was just so bad. We were going over the lines. We're all sitting in the circle and we're all going over our lines from our books ... we were first starting out and there's one part and she's like, hey Sam scream and I was like, [insert little tiny yell here] And everyone started laughing it was so bad."

It may have been Sam's first time on stage but for Peyton Amundson (grade 8) the stage is nothing new. 
"I've been in both years of the play at this school and I've been in three other plays out of school. I just like it because it's a place where I can just let go and sort of show my personality and just have fun and meet new friends and just be there with everybody"

I asked Peyton who is playing Mr. Tumnus and Father Christmas what to expect once those lights go up: 
"Well, they can expect a big show! We've taken hours like three days a week and we've made all of our props almost by hand, lots of our costumes are made by hand! We all want you to see that we've tried our hardest and we hope you love it and it's just, it's perfect!"

I truly believe Junior High is a great way to introduce kids to the wonder of the stage (that's where Tom and I got our start) but...
It can be a very interesting adjustment as Abbie Stokes tells me (she is playing Mrs. Beaver) 
"It was pretty nerve-racking trying to get those lines memorized and being in front of everyone. You really got to get out of your shell a lot with doing this play and just be yourself and it's kind of nice though. Once you get it you get it, but like you got to keep on top of it and having to memorize a person's a headline, and like the different cues and things and it was definitely hard."

These kids have put so much into this show! Please don't miss out on this one. 
Pick up your tickets to this magical show before they are swept up and you are left waiting in the cold!

Tickets are available at the front office from 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. from Monday to Friday. MORE INFO HERE
Adults: 10.00;
Students: 5.00;
Family of four: 25.00
Free for children under the age of five.

 

~Logans ramblings