Snow Business Like Show Business

Community members are in for a treat Friday as the elementary students will be putting on their first play “North Pole’s Got Talent.” The play begins at 6 p.m. at the Platte Valley Community Center and is sponsored by the Town of Saratoga, Carbon County School Districts No. 2 (CCSD2) and the Platte Valley Drama Club.

The play, written by Lavinia Roberts and sponsored by Pioneer Drama Services, is designed for a flexible cast according to pioneerdrama.com.

Stage right, is director Marie Christen, who has been coaching the Platte Valley Drama Club for eight years.

Christen had seen the drama club grow in those years with students from Hanna-Elk Mountain-Medicine Bow (HEM), Saratoga, Encampment and homeschool becoming involved in the play the Platte Valley Drama Club performs every spring.

She decided to test the waters with the elementary grade students and had more than 60 children sign up for the play. The Hanna Elementary School children were not involved with the elementary play this year.

The play is set up similar to Missoula Children’s Theatre, except that the cast members have more than one week to work and memorize lines for the play.

The students have been working on the play for the month of December and last week was the last week of rehearsal and this week is dress rehearsals and ends with the performance on Friday.

One performance will be for the elementary schools during the school day and the final performance is for the public.

Christen doesn’t do this alone. She has lots of help from Cathy Fairbanks, who helps with costumes and choreography. Fairbanks works as a substitute teacher at CCSD2 and also helps with dance and gymnastics classes in the Valley. Fairbanks has been involved with the Platte Valley Drama club for 10 years. Fairbanks got involved when she started staying for practice and realized the costumes needed repair. “Do you want me to bring a needle and thread?” she asked. She has been involved since.

Parents volunteer to work with the children during practice and at home, help memorize lines and teach them dances.

“There are a lot of kids, and we could not do it without the parents' help,” Christen said.

December 11, during practice, parents were keeping children busy until it was their turn to perform. Fairbanks and McCall Burau were working with the youngest of the group while Christen was going over lines with the older children in the Saratoga Elementary School gym.

Christen became involved in the Platte Valley Drama Club when a student, Takoda Pedersen, asked Christen if she could help her mom, Elizabeth Brown, with the drama club. Christen became the assistant coach, and when Brown moved, Christen applied to be the head coach.

“The group has grown immensely,” Christen said. “I love seeing the kids evolve through the whole process. Seeing them through the audition, seeing all the way through the final performance - I literally tear up now and I don’t think I have ever been emotional, but now I am.” She said it has been an emotional process, seeing [the children] grow up with each play. It is amazing what they can turn it into.

Christen said she is grateful for the community support the Drama Club receives - from the Town of Saratoga to CCSD2, but with the popularity, expenses grow.

In January, she is planning a dinner theater with the Platte Valley Drama Club, which will be a fundraiser. After finishing up practice at the elementary school, she was meeting the Drama Club an hour later for their rehearsal.

There are lots of costs for putting on plays, including scripts and costumes. Scripts for the plays are copyrighted and there is a fee to use the plays.

“Because of the growing interest in the last couple of years, the middle-high school kids, that group has grown immensely,” Christen said.

That led her to ask help from the Town of Saratoga and they have graciously helped by working some money into their budget. Christen said the cost of scripts, costumes and props are expensive, so she wanted to help defray some of those costs by hosting a dinner theater.

She has received community support on other projects, such as the mural on the east side of her store - Sweet Marie’s Mercantile, and hopes to gain community support for the Drama Club.

She also plans to apply for grants to help defer costs.