Thunder Mountain High School’s drama students are heading to Narnia.
The fall play, which runs Oct.5-Oct,7, is “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.”
“It’s very family friends,” said Alex Klimkewicz, an English and drama teacher leading his first production at TMHS. “It’s the classic C.S. Lewis Story. It’s a fun chance for the kids to dress up as fantastic characters.”
That means costumes and makeup are relatively elaborate.
“It’s probably the most intensive costumes I’ve had,” said Trevor Thomson, a TMHS senior who plays the lion Aslan. “We have to have two manes for me because one of them has to be shaved.”
Klimkewicz said the makeup is more elaborate than usual stage makeup, too.
Arianna Csech, a TMHS senior, spearheaded the makeup for cast members.
“It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but never got a chance to,” Csech said.
There are other similar collaborative efforts involved in the production, Klimkewicz said.
“For the most part I take suggestions from the kids about what we do,” Klimkewicz said.
Those suggestions have formed the music used in scenes and resulted in background projections made by student Hunter Greene.
“It really is a collaborative effort,” Klimkewicz said.
He also credited the parent group, the Drama Mamas, with being a great help and the robotics club with making robot mice for the production. Also, some middle and elementary school students will act, too.
Students involved in the play expressed excitement Friday during their first rehearsal with makeup.
“It’s great,” said Taisha Fermin, a TMHS sophomore who will play Edmund. “It’s super fun.”
Like the character she will play, Fermin, has a fondness for the confection Turkish delight. Before rehearsal, she was involved in a good-natured argument with a cast mate about whether the kind with nuts sold at Fred Meyer qualifies as “real Turkish delight.
Dorothy Kuterbach, a TMHS senior who plays Lucy, said “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” offers a change of pace from the shows in which she’s usually participated.
“It’s kind of different because I mainly do musicals,” Kuterbach said.
Thomson said he’s most excited for his confrontation with the White Witch, and recommended the play as a fun night out for families.
“I have never seen an audience not have a good time at a show,” he said.
Know & Go
What: “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”
Where: Thunder Mountain High School, 3101 Dimond Park Loop
When: 7 p.m. Oct. 5 and Oct. 6 and 3 p.m. Oct. 7.
Admission: $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors. Advance tickets are sold by students, and remaining tickets will be sold at the door.
Contact arts and culture reporter Ben Hohenstatt at 523-2243 or bhohenstatt@juneauempire.com. Follow him on Twitter at @capweekly.
Taisha Fermin, left, Alex Thompson, center, and Dorothy Kuterbach rehearse in the Thunder Mountain High School production of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” at TMHS on Friday, Sept. 28, 2018. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire)
