Photo provided Cast members of “Disney’s 101 Dalmatians KIDS” are shown at a recent rehearsal
You’re not seeing spots — St. Peter’s Lutheran School and its sixth graders are bringing the “101 Dalmatians” story to The Commons Thursday night.
From the very beginning of this production and voting for the show they wanted to do while still fifth graders, students have been responsible for all aspects of the show. Creating the props, painting the sets and even organizing partnerships with local businesses, it’s all been them. As their director Emily Nolting describes it: it’s their show.
“It’s going to be fun and these kids have worked incredibly hard to put something together that is worth seeing and I think as a community member, it’s important to see what our youth is involved in and what they’re capable of doing,” Nolting said. “And this is a great example of that.”
The public performance of the play will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday upstairs at The Commons. It is free to attend.
Nolting, who is also the school’s music teacher, said for kids who haven’t had exposure to the theater world before, it’s been fun to introduce them to the idea that theater is a community of people with all kinds of talents and for them to utilize those talents in the production.
“We see the actors on stage, but that’s just one part. We have to have people that are engineer-type brains who can figure out how to build things and make things work,” Nolting said. “We have to have people who are very good at artistic talent to be able to make props and paint.”
At the end of the performance, the sixth graders’ second grade chapel buddies, who they sit with during Wednesday chapel services, will come out on stage led by their classroom teachers as the rest of the adopted puppies. As their chapel buddies, the sixth graders have helped their second grade buddies put together their costumes and decide on their dog names.
“It’s so fun to see that relationship that we have at St. Peter’s with the older students who then get younger students for chapel buddies and trying to nurture that relationship in other areas outside of chapel, like they do things for their birthdays,” Nolting said. “I know the sixth graders come and help second graders put their Bible tabs in when the second graders get their Bibles.”
Students have also been involved in creating partnerships with local businesses including the Bartholomew County Humane Society, Dog World Daycare and Behavior Center, Dirty Dogs Grooming and Hope Veterinary Clinic. The Bartholomew County Humane Society and Dog World will be present before the show starts from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in the downstairs area of The Commons for a dog adoption event with a few dogs and information about dogs available for adoption.
“We have been blessed with Mr. Ron Harrell, who is actually the father of one of our sixth grade teachers, who last year talked to me and stepped in and said, ‘hey, it takes money to put on a production of really any size’ and he is very familiar with raising funds and working with sponsors and donors from his previous work in universities,” Nolting said.
With Harrell’s help in connecting with these businesses, students were able to go out and meet with them, talk about the show and what they would get in return from being a sponsor. Nolting said she loves how these businesses tie into the production, as in past years, their sponsors have come from sixth graders’ parents and their businesses. This is the first year they have stepped into having partnerships relating to the program itself, she said.
“I have kids running the behind-the-stage, so I am not behind stage, I’m out in the audience in the show and so backstage, it’s sixth graders running the show, calling cues and making sure props are where they need to be and actors get on stage,” Nolting said. “So some of those leadership skills, it’s just really neat to see and I’m excited that I get to show the kids that the world of theater is so much broader than just the actors on the stage.”
