For the first time in many years, Bowie Middle School will be staging a theater production. Just in time for Christmas, audiences will be able to view “Elf Jr.”
The production is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the Bowie Middle School gym.
Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for all Ector County ISD students.
“… We’ve got some coupon codes for a couple of organizations like the Boys and Girls Club and then teachers and all those kinds of things just to make them a little less expensive,” Director Micaela Grenier said.
Sixty students turned out for auditions, which Grenier said was amazing.
“… We’ve lost a few along the way, so right now we have right about 40 with all of our cast and crew, which is still awesome for our very first show,” she added.
This being the first theater production in some time, Grenier said they didn’t have a lot of money so they needed to stage something that didn’t use a lot of costumes and the costumes could just be plain clothes.
“We’re not finished, but a lot of these the kids helped us make them …,” she said.
They also wanted to put something on that the students knew, would be excited about and that would hopefully appeal to the community.
Grenier added that this will be the first production for many of these students.
“.. They’re really excited about it, but it’s definitely been a learning experience for all of us,” she said.
Grenier said working with the students has been great.
“They have no expectations of me right now because they’ve never done anything like this before, so everything that we do, they are amazed by. So like their elf costumes are just T-shirts with some little felt colors and buttons and snowballs and they think they’re the best ever. Anytime we add something new, like we started adding some furniture and we started painting some things and getting some props in there,” the students thought they were just going to use desks and desk chairs.
“I was like no, we get real set pieces. We get real costumes. We get real props, and they’re just like, that’s amazing. They’re so excited about everything and they are all working really hard. We’ve had a Saturday rehearsal where we were here for five hours working on everything and nobody complained. Everybody was excited. Everybody was happy. It’s just been a really great experience for them and for the teachers as we work with them,” Grenier said.
Head Choir Director Jimena Wolfe directed the music and Assistant Choir Director Alexa Duron created the choreography, plus five teachers, she said.
Grenier said it was tough to make casting decisions because of the number of students that auditioned.
“… We did these auditions in October, so we were still getting to know the students and to figure out can they sing, can they act, can they dance, so not knowing what they want to do, what they can do. And also, they were all so talented. It was really, really hard to choose. There’s only a handful of leading roles, principal roles, and it’s really difficult when you have 60 to choose 10 that are going to be your leading roles, so yes, it was very difficult to pick …,” Grenier said.
She added that everyone is excited about having a theater production on campus.
“Santa Claus is actually being played by our principal, Mr. (Paul) Fulce, which is super exciting. He was on board right away. We’ve gotten nothing but support. We’ve had teachers that are wanting to come help paint, who want to help us run box office, who put up posters for us. They’ve been letting the kids come down early, a couple minutes every day so that they can have time to get their costumes on and get our microphones and get all the pieces figured out. So everyone’s been really supportive and really excited so far,” Grenier said.
She added that she thinks the show is going to be really good.
“… We have a lot to do still, you know … with just a couple of people working on it. And with us also all being full-time teachers and having to teach our classes and work on standardized testing and do our lunch duty and be here for tutoring and all those kinds of things; it’s a lot of moving pieces and it sometimes can feel a little overwhelming, but the kids have been so amazing and we have gotten so much help that I know that it is going to be an awesome show for our very first one,” she said.
Shelby Hickman, a 14-year-old eighth-grader, plays Walter Hobbs. Brooklynn Hawkins, also a 14-year-old eighth grader, is portraying Emily Hobbs, his wife.
Hawkins said this is her first theater effort.
“I really love singing, so that was … one thing and then I’m in theater and … it seems … really fun and I wanted to try it out,” Hawkins said.
Hickman said it has always been a dream of hers to be involved in fine arts.
“I was really excited,” Hickman said of making the production, “because it’s my first year doing it and it’s just really exciting and I was really nervous that I wasn’t going to be able to learn everything.”
Hickman said the upcoming show is making her nervous, but it’s exciting at the same time.
“It’s really exciting because we know it’ll come together …,” Hawkins said.
“But we know it’s going to be really rewarding after we do it,” Hickman said.
All the students are big fans of the movie “Elf.”
Ricardo Estrada, an 11-year-old sixth grader, tried out for the play because he was in theater class and really liked it.
He was told there would be a play. He thought he would be really good in it and auditioned and was cast as an elf.
Estrada, who said he plays a security guard, said being in the play is “pretty cool.”
He added that he feels pretty good about the show as he is not by himself on stage.
