Theater prepares for children’s play

Another children’s play will grace the stage of Taylor Performing Arts Center for public enjoyment on April 17 and 18 at 2:30.
Melissa Mullen will student direct the play, Marian and Robin, written by Webb City High School theater teacher, Tracy Eden.
“The show is so funny,” said Devri Brock, who plays Sarah, Maiden Marian’s handmaiden. “Even the parts that are juvenile, the cast members are so enthusiastic and insane about it that it is just so much fun to watch. It’s fun to watch people have fun.”
While incorporating the individual characters from the original Robin Hood legend, Eden’s version highlights the importance of accepting others as they are.
“The moral of the story is that it is ok to be different,” said Melissa Mullen, student director of the play. “Everyone is important. It is ok to be crazy or strange.”
Last year, Mullen applied for the role of student director for the 2010 children’s play. She selected Marian and Robin, a play she performed in her senior year of high school, for consideration as a MSSU theater production. Unlike the other theatre productions, the student directed play does not have a budget to cover high royalty costs, so the unpublished Marian and Robin fit well. However, the value of a play cannot only be measured only in royalties.
“I just think the story behind it is really good,” said Mullen. “For them [the kids] to be able to go home and use that and use their imagination, I think that is the biggest thing. Society now isn’t really teaching children to use their imagination. This kind of shows them that it’s ok to use their imagination.”
Switching into the director’s role gives a production a new meaning for students able to do so. According to Mullen, the children’s play has a young cast that she enjoys working with.
“I don’t know everything by any means, but if I can teach something that I know to someone else, and they take that and run with it. That’s probably my favorite part about it,” said Mullen.
The cost is 25 cents for children and 50 cents for adults. In addition to the public performances, select local schools will be given separate performances on April 14.
 

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