Twenty-three Haines children will display their acting and singing talents in a musical production this weekend. The Lynn Canal Community Players youth theater camp is staging ‘The Mad Adventures of Mr. Toad.’
It marks the fourth Haines production of Oregon-based director Stanley Coleman. Like the past few Coleman-led productions, the play is full of goofy songs and life lessons.
“Toad is a crazed person that takes up crazes,” explained Maddox Rogers.
“And now his newest craze is a motor car,” said Selby Long, who plays Toad. “And it’s just a mad adventure about his newest craze.”
The play is based on the story ‘The Wind in the Willows.’ It focuses on Mr. Toad’s ill-fated obsession with cars, which eventually leads to the main character stealing a car. But they’re not using a real vehicle in this production.
“There’s this motorized granny cart that we use,” Long said.
Mr. Toad takes the granny cart on a joy ride. Little does he know, it’s part of a plot led by some scheming weasels.
“The weasels are trying to kick Toad out because they want his house,” said Ace Asper, who plays a weasel.
“He’s very rich and has the best house everywhere,” Hayden Jimenez added. “We tricked him into stealing a car.”
“He gets into a lot of trouble and ends up in jail,” Coleman said.
Do the weasels take over Toad’s home? Does Toad ever make it out of jail? You’ll have to see the show to get the answers to those questions. Coleman says Toad learns a life lesson or two along the way.
“This is a story about how people can change,” Coleman said. “This story is really about human nature.”
Production manager Bill Winkley, who is also from Oregon, helps lead the Haines theater camp.
“We are quite astounded by how much some of these youth have incorporated stuff that we tried to teach them in previous years,” Winkley said. “[There’s been] tremendous growth with some of these kids.”
You can see ‘The Mad Adventures of Mr. Toad’ this Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Chilkat Center.