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Auditions for Missoula Children's Theater Monday

CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 7 years, 10 months AGO
by CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | February 9, 2018 2:00 AM

MOSES LAKE — The tale of a young man, a princess, a genie and a magic lamp will come to the stage at the Wallenstien Theater next week, courtesy of Columbia Basin Allied Arts and the Missoula Children’s Theater. Auditions for the MCT production of “Aladdin” are scheduled for 4 p.m. Monday at the theater on the Big Bend Community College campus. Children must be kindergarten age and older to audition.

Two performances are scheduled, at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. Feb. 17. Auditioning and rehearsals are free to the performers. Audience admission to the play is $7 for all ages.

Missoula Children’s Theater provides two actor-directors for the production. The company will cast 50 to 60 local children for the production, and will provide scenery and costumes. Rehearsals begin right after auditions and continue every night through Friday.

The MCT actors also will talk about the different jobs available in show business during an assembly at Monument Elementary in Quincy, and conduct classroom workshops at the school. It’s part of the CBAA outreach program, said Allied Arts director Shawn Cardwell.

The MCT visit is the second of the 2017-18 Allied Arts season. The show is part of the CBAA “Green Turtle” series for children.

“Aladdin,” of course, is a classic tale of the Middle East and a well-received Disney movie. Aladdin wants to meet the princess, but how does a poor boy meet a princess? Well (at least in the MCT production), he goes in search of a magic lamp.

Along the way he meets many characters from equally classic tales – Sinbad the Sailor, Ali Baba and those 40 thieves, the storyteller Scheherazade. He gets advice from sultans and genies, and even his mom. But the lesson Aladdin takes away from it all is that it takes more than a wish to make a good impression.

The Green Turtle season finale is the Theatreworks USA production of “Pete the Cat” March 6. The Premiere series for adults will present the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta “The Pirates of Penzance” March 26, and a performance by magician and comedian Jay Alexander March 30.

Ticket information for all performances is available on the CBAA website.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].

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