Photo by Brett Nachtigall/Fall River County Herald-Star

Local youth thespians perform on the Mueller Center stage during a scene from Aladdin, which was a production of the Missoula Children’s Theatre.

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By Charity Maness

HOT SPRINGS – More than 40 local youth participated in the Missoula Children’s Theatre (MCT) production of Aladdin Friday and Saturday evening at the Mueller Center in Hot Springs.

“I don’t think we could have asked for it to go any better,” said Chris Kattke, Mueller Center Director, “the kids put on a really good performance.”

According to Kattke approximately 140 patrons of the arts attended the event each evening with poor weather not hindering attendance. “We heard lots of great comments after the production,” said Kattke.

With only one week of rehearsals the aspiring youth thespians learned not only their lines, but also how theater works from the ground up.

The MCT tour team provided a set, lights, costumes, props and make-up, everything it takes to put on a play except the cast. This is where the community youth came in to play.

“This is such a wonderful troupe to work with,” said Kattke, “they bring everything they need to work with and we were really happy with how they dealt with our youth.”

While the focus was on a performance, MCT also promotes the development of life skills through participation in performance arts having honed their technique with over forty years of touring throughout the US and Japan.

“I was happy with the results,” said Bo Bradley, performance Director and assistant for Hot Springs High School performances. “This gave Hot Springs youth a taste of theatre and how fun it could be, but also some learning about expectations, responsibility and working as a team.”

The MCT production was funded by the City of Hot Springs with Jeff Temple, Hot Springs City Administrator, being the driving force behind the funding. According to Temple the plan is to fund this program on a yearly basis.

“This production exceeded all of my expectations,” said Temple, adding with excitement, “We have already booked Missoula Children’s Theatre for next year.”