Young Mowgli (Bryson Leffers, left) takes shelter with the wolf pack while fleeing from Shere Khan. Mother Wolf (Samantha Hughes) pats his head as Father Wolf (Josephine Holliday) watches.
After a week of intensive rehearsals, 50 Seward County children presented “The Jungle Book” July 29 at Seward High School.
The show, directed by the Missoula Children’s Theatre, is the story of Mowgli, a boy “abandoned in the jungle, adopted by wolves, taught by a bear, befriended by a panther and chased by a tiger.” “The Jungle Book” was written by Rudyard Kipling in 1893-94.
“It’s the struggle with figuring out who he is,” Director Kayleigh Campo said. “It’s about courage and hope and how everyone sticks together.”
Sam Schroeder of Seward, 13, was cast as Mowgli and said the hardest thing was learning the lines. However, he said, rehearsals were fun. He’s performed at music contests in the past, so he wasn’t worried about being on stage.
“I was surprised to be Mowgli,” he said.
He said he thought the show would be more like the movie.
Drew Kratochvil of Seward, 12, was cast as Shere Khan the tiger. She said she decided to try out for the show because “I love acting. It’s really fun. It’s a chance to break out of your shell.”
For her, her favorite part was Mowgli’s song when she tries to pounce on him. The hardest part was her own solo.
Drew Whitney of Seward, 11, played Rikki-Tikki-Tavi the mongoose and said the show was fun.
She said learning her lines quickly was tough, but she had them down by the second day. The daily lunch break was a chance to meet new people and make new friends, which she enjoyed.
She said her favorite part of the show was her interaction with Hathi the elephant, who was convinced Rikki was a mouse and kept stampeding.
Nine-year-old Saige Scheele, a student at Centennial, played Tabaqui the jackel, Shere Khan’s sidekick. She said memorizing all the lines was hard, too, but she enjoyed meeting the other kids in the show.
“I love the stage. Spotlight! Action! Jazz hands,” she said, performing jazz hands and grinning as she spoke.
She said the directors told her she was the youngest actor to play Tabaqui this summer.
Campo and Frank Garcia Jr. are with the MCT and directed the show in Seward. This year was the first time for the MCT to visit Seward.
“The Jungle Book” is a 46-page musical with 10 songs, Campo said.
MCT directors start out with two hours of auditions on Monday. During that time, they have the children sing, move and act to see what they can do. At the end of the two hours, the directors name their cast.
“It doesn’t usually take the full two hours,” Campo said.
“The process has gotten smaller,” Garcia added.
For this version of “The Jungle Book,” the role of Baloo the bear is played by either Garcia or Campo, Campo said. In Seward, Garcia got the nod.
Rehearsals are divided into two-hour blocks and are run twice each day.
“It shows how much the kids can absorb,” Campo said.
“A lot of adults are baffled by it,” Garcia said, adding that many of the kids came to Tuesday’s rehearsal with their lines memorized.
The directors teach the kids the songs before the accompanist comes. The choreography comes next and is taught in one sitting, Garcia said.
They also have words of the day, which included respect, patience, focus, memorization, cooperation and encouragement. Garcia said those are used to teach the kids life skills.
“Theater is not a competition. It is an art,” Garcia said.
Both Garcia and Campo are passionate about children’s theater. Garcia, who is from a small town in Texas, said he wished he’d had an outlet like MCT when he was growing up. As it was, he didn’t become interested in theater until high school.
He heard about the Missoula Children’s Theatre from college friends and, he said, “I knew I wanted to do it.”
This is the first summer Garcia has participated in the MCT. He has one year of school left at Texas A&M, he said.
Campo is also in her first year of MCT. She got interested in theater in high school and studied theater in college at the University of West Florida. She is from Naples, Florida, and said she heard about MCT from friends.
One of the things about MCT that both like is the creativity the kids are able to display.
“If you don’t cultivate imagination, you’ll lose it,” Garcia said. “You can do what you put your mind to.”
Campo said visiting small towns has been a new experience for her, and she enjoys the close-knit feel of the communities.
Both said they enjoy teaching and connecting with the kids. Some weeks are hard, Campo said, because moving on means leaving those connections.
She said she hopes some of the kids who performed in “The Jungle Book” decide to pursue theater.
“At least continue in the arts,” Garcia added. “The world would be a lot more colorful.”
