Youth

The children of Oskaloosa were treated to a wonderful experience the week of January 14th through the 19th. On Monday there was a record breaking 174 children from Kindergarten through High School that auditioned for the Missoula Children's Theatre production of Cinderella. There were 58 of those hopeful young actors cast to be either on stage or assisting the Missoula team of Elyze Milligan and Elizabeth Cozby. There was rehearsal held every day after school at 4:00pm to 8:15 for 4 nights and then on Saturday there were 2 performances.

There was record breaking attendance for both the 3:00 and 7:00 performances and the audience was entertained with the Missoula version of the old fairy tale of Cinderella. The songs were fun and entertaining and the dancing was very well done by all of the children. The smallest of the cast were the pumpkins and they stole the show when they were on stage. The mice were very cute with the line dance that they did and the Lords and Ladies were just haughty enough to make them believable but not overdone. The Beggars added a real sense of theatrics to their parts and the town criers, Gabriel Burns and Eric Bridges, always brought out the laughs. Keyla Spahr was cast as Cinderella and has been in every Missoula show in Oskaloosa. Leah Poe was the despised Step Mother and Hannah Hedge and Madison Breuklander were the 2 Step Sisters. Marcus Messamer was handsome and debonair as both a beggar and the prince. There was also a dog, Spencer Owens, a cat, Elise Obermire, and the king, Drayton Strait, that added humor to many of the scenes. Raggedy Annie, Emilia Hodges, was the equivalent of the fairy Godmother. Adding to the performance was the accompanist, Angie Binns who added many embellishments with the electric keyboard.

The Kiwanis Clubs of Oskaloosa have been providing sponsorships for the Missoula Children's Theatre residencies since 2004 and the George Daily Auditorium is grateful that they are so interested in providing this opportunity for the youth of Oskaloosa.