The Adventures of Mr. Toad, based off the book The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, is a story about Mr. Toad and his animal friends, and their life in Toad Hall.
“It’s that classic tale, so it’s got Mr. Toad who lives in Toad Hall, and Mole, Rat and Badger are the other characters. It’s about friendship mostly,” said Director, Laura DeGraff.
Performances began Nov. 17th and run Nov. 24th, 25th and 26th at New Life Fellowship in Red Deer.
The impetuous Mr. Toad falls in love with motor cars, getting into all sorts of trouble, and gets the help and support of his friends to try and keep him on the straight and narrow.
Put on by Cornerstone Youth Theatre, the cast consists of 48 students, which is a rather small cast next to their other performances. They also have a crew of about 15 to 20 kids.
“Usually around 60 is our average. That’s the most we can have, and usually we get pretty close to that number. They have a little bit more room in the green room, so they like that,” said DeGraff with a laugh.
The students range from eight-year-olds to 18-year-olds, and the group has worked hard to rehearse for their performances.
“We started at the end of September, and it’s basically eight weeks from the beginning to opening night,” she said, adding that they also practiced at home.
She said it’s been a really good cast this session, with no big challenges.
“They try super hard. It’s a comedy this show and they all come with super comedic capabilities, ideas, faces and all that kind of stuff, so it’s been a really slick rehearsal process.”
All of the kids in the cast are also taking a class with Cornerstone Youth Theatre on top of school.
“We have classes like drama, dance and voice, but then we also have some more specialty higher classes as well. They always take a class and then they can audition to be part of the show, so they are doing two different things with us this session,” she said, adding that it all acts as extra curricular.
To be part of the program people can register online at www.cornerstoneyouththeatre.org. Registration is open for their winter session, which starts the second week of January.
“We’re doing The Wizard of Oz this winter,” said DeGraff.
Those performances will take place in March.
She said they will also take registration at their current show The Adventures of Mr. Toad.
Tickets for this show can be purchased online at Cornerstone’s website or at the door.
