The students of Niverville have been busy rehearsing and putting on their end-of-year dramas. Niverville Elementary School already performed their musical on April 26–27. Niverville Collegiate Institute will present a murder mystery dessert theatre on May 31–June 2.
This spring, NES decided to do something new for its Grades Three and Four musical.
“This year it was Disney’s The Jungle Book,” says music teacher Karli Davidson, who also directed the play. “This is the first year we are doing a Disney Broadway musical! It is very exciting, but it also comes with many challenges, as it contains more singing than most other elementary musicals.”
With four classes per grade, the school held four separate performances. This was the first year that NES performed two shows in one night, with one at 6:30 p.m. and another at 8:00 p.m. Each show lasted roughly 40 minutes with Mowgli, Baloo, and Bagheera on centre stage.
The costumes were quite elaborate, as the show contained many animals ranging from elephants to tigers, monkeys, and more. All of the Grade Four students sported face paint by two talented women in the community, Margaret Kyle and Eileen Davage.
Both grades practiced for two months prior to opening night, with the Grade Four students taking on the lead roles and Grade Three students singing in the chorus.
“We practiced all of the singing and choreography with each class during their music classes,” Davidson says. “I also practiced during the lunch hour with the Grade Fours who had solos or small singing ensembles. The Grade Four teachers were in charge of practicing the script/acting with their classes so that it tied into their ELA curriculum.”
Each show was performed to a packed house and went off without a hitch, requiring a lot of behind-the-scenes assistance in the areas of lighting, sound, and stage design.
NCI Dessert Theatre
Still to come is NCI’s dessert theatre, staged by students from Grades Nine to Twelve. The play is called But Why Bump off Barnaby? There will be three evening shows.
The play’s setting is deep in Agatha Christie country. Deanna Wiebe, NCI’s guidance counsellor, is directing the play.
“While the zany group frantically tries to unmask the murderer, people vanish, poison is found in the sherry, and the police take forever to arrive,” says Wiebe, describing the play. “Meanwhile, there’s a secret treasure to be found, a mystifying limerick to decode, and all sorts of doom to be avoided before the killer is finally unmasked and destroyed.”
Since drama is an extracurricular activity for NCI students, they practice outside of classroom hours. They have been rehearsing since mid-February. Tickets will be sold in advance for $10, and at the door for $12.
Wiebe encourages the public to come out and support our local arts. “This dessert theatre promises to be a deliciously entertaining night out and should definitely not be missed!”
