Fun with friends on stage

A love of theater, friends, and fun have brought local students together for this year's Sweetwater BOCES Summer Theater for Youth production of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr." at Western Wyoming Community College.

The summer theater program gives students in fourth grade through twelfth grade the chance to star in a musical and learn more about theater in general. It also tends to draw large crowds of local youth who do the program every year, and then bring their friends along to join them.

This summer's play stars multiple students from Green River, both younger kids and teenagers, who are playing both lead roles and supporting ensemble roles.

Some of the younger Green River kids in the production include Trent Tanner, Emma Allred, William Stone, Olivia Knudson and Camden Groat.

Several of them have done plays before, and wanted the chance to be on stage again.

"I really love theater," Emma Allred explained.

"I want to start being a good actor," William Stone said. "I do want to make movies when I grow up."

Many of these young actors are off to a good start, with several having featured roles and speaking or singing lines in the production. Trent Tanner in particular is highlighted as he takes on one of the lead roles, playing Jeremy Potts.

Trent is also joined on stage by his two older sisters, Elyse Tanner and Katelyn Tanner. Elyse also has a lead role in the musical as Truly Scrumptious, while Katelyn plays Ms. Phillips and several ensemble roles.

Elyse was the main factor in getting all the siblings to audition together. After doing shows like "Matilda Jr." and "Beauty and the Beast Jr." with the summer program, she wanted to participate again this summer. At first Katelyn was opposed because she didn't want to be in a musical about a flying car, but she was persuaded by Elyse to participate.

"My sister was really eager to do it, so I figured if we're going to do it as a group we're going to do it," Katelyn said.

While she was the most excited to be in the show, Elyse has also been arguably the most exhausted and anxious with the pressure of a lead role.

"One of the challenges is memorizing lines and learning choreography, and it's only a four-ish week span, so you have to pack it all in," Elyse explained.

"We only have 12 days to rehearse, and there are only four hours, so you have to cram everything into four hours, and then we do it again the next day, and it just becomes really exhausting," Katelyn added.

Despite the pressure, the sisters expressed how much fun the show is. Elyse loves the performances and costumes, and Katelyn pointed out how much she enjoys "meeting so many people from different areas of life and different experiences. It's so cool to be able to combine that all together and unite and put it on a stage," she added.

Other Green River teenagers in the show include Isabella Groat and Harrison Hopkins, who also expressed how much fun they're having. Harrison pointed out how much he loves the music, even though he hadn't seen the musical previously. And he wasn't the only one.

"I hadn't seen the movie until I got cast," Elyse admitted. "So it was kind of like, let's just dive on in and see where this leads."

Most of the other Green River students in the production also hadn't seen "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" before joining the production. But for Green River native and Western theater student Timmy Golightly, who is directing the production, the familiar story is part of what makes this summer's show so exciting.

"I grew up watching 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,'" Timmy explained. "It would be one of the movies that was on repeat in my house, just because I loved it so much. And so I never thought as a kid that I would be able to bring it to life onto a stage. And now I had this chance and so I'm really excited."

While brining a favorite story to life has been fun, it's also had its challenges, particularly since this is Timmy's first time directing. Going through all the scenes, figuring out all the blocking and movement, and scheduling and organizing rehearsals in such a short production period have all been difficult. Timmy also admitted its stressful for him to not be able to control everything and to get to a point where he's done what he can and has to let it go and let the actors take over.

Working with such a wide age range of kids also presents unique challenges. But it's also one of the biggest rewards.

"It's always a joy to work with all the kids," Timmy said.

He also has a unique understanding of what the cast is going through, since he participated in the summer theater program himself many times as he was growing up. He remembered how fun it always was, and sees now what a great opportunity it is.

"That's one of my main ideas is to make sure that all the kids have fun, because that's the main purpose of this," Timmy said.

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr." opened last night and will have its second and final performance tonight at 7 p.m. at Western. Admission is free.