After Elk Meadows Elementary’s first performance of Roald Dahl’s “Willy Wonka Kids,” many of the 85 students in the show were as excited as if they had truly found a golden ticket.

“I’ve done theater before, but this is my biggest part and so far, the most fun,” sixth-grader Jaxon Bell said, who played Charlie Bucket and is to play Fletcher Blake in Hale Centre Theatre’s production of Freaky Friday this July and August. “I learned how I should play Charlie. He’s a nice kid who is honest, but he doesn’t have everything others have since he comes from a poor home. I’ve loved being in the show with my friends; we’ve become a cast family and it’s awesome the way the props and set transformed our school stage to match the story.”

Sixth-grader Evan McEntire, who played Grandpa Joe, agrees: “It’s been a real fun adventure and I appreciate learning acting skills so I could be in this story and share it with the entire school.”

Their May performances began with auditions in January, where the students recited lines, sang and learned a few steps of choreography. Once assigned their roles, they rehearsed every weekday one to two hours after school. 

“We learned how to be team players,” sixth-grader and stage manager Avery Oldroyd said. “I learned to help people who needed an extra hand.”

Sixth-grader Johnny Orton learned how to do sound production for the show.

“We had to work together, and we did just that,” he said.

Sixth-grader Maeli Moon learned lighting and how to work the tech board.

“It was good to understand how one thing can impact another, so together, we knew it would work great,” she said.

Fifth-grader Jack Mallory, who was the microphone operator, agrees: “If I mess up on mics, we can’t hear an actor very well. A couple days ago, we had feedback, but we worked through it as a team to make it work.”

Fifth-grader William Morley was a light operator.

“It’s exciting coming together; we faced a lot of challenges, and learned from them,” he said.

Their director, Beverley Taylor Sorenson theatre teacher Spencer Duncan, gives credit to the students.

“They starred in the show and ran the show,” he said. “Each night there were parent volunteers backstage, but they reported that the kids know exactly where to go and how to help each other. I was really impressed with the amount of work the kids did. Being together so much, they developed a close kinship.”

In addition to helping create set pieces, the student-actors learned their speaking parts, their songs and dances.

“I had to learn how to move my feet while singing,” fifth-grader Mark Morrison said about his character, James. “Luckily, I got my speaking part down in two weeks so I could work on the music and dance.”

Sixth-grader Kace Bate, who played Willy Wonka, said it took him two months to get down the hip hop moves in the Pure Imagination scene.

“It was an important part of the show,” he said. “It’s super fun to have an important role and share the stage with my friends.”

Students learned many acting skills and how to have a stage presence.

“I learned how to project my voice and do big movements, which felt silly, but looked good on stage,” said sixth-grader Jameson Stanford, who played Veruca Salt’s dad.

It was sixth-grader Jaron Prince’s first show.

“I wasn’t confident; my stomach muscles tightened,” said the Oompa Loompa performer. “But as we rehearsed, I learned what to do and it ended up being so much fun.”

Sixth-grader Lucy Lauritzen thought she would never be in a show, but she found herself cast as Violet Beauregarde’s mother.

“It sounded fun to be involved in the show, but I had to overcome my stage fright,” she said.

Fifth-grader Jordyn Payne also was a first-time performer. She played Mike Teavee’s mother.

“I had to learn how to act, how to show emotions, how to move, but I could do it together with friends,” she said.

Sixth-grader Eli Stephens, who played an Oompa Loompa, learned “not to be afraid if you’re expressing something weird. It makes the show.”

His classmate Matthew Wimmer, who was a news reporter amongst his several roles, learned “to put myself out there, not be shy.”

About everyone had a favorite scene to the show.

Veruca, or sixth-grader Aidia Hall, said her favorite part was being in the nut room with the squirrels. 

“It’s a fun song and scene,” she said. “I love to sing; this was a really fun show.”

Sixth-grader Quincy Zollinger played Violet Beauregarde.

“My favorite part was getting blown up and getting to look like a big blueberry,” she said, learning how to quickly apply and remove the blue-violet water-activated make-up. 

Mrs. Gloop, played by fifth-grader Addie Elvidge, thought the shrinking room was fun while sixth-grader Duke Andrewsen, who played Mike Teavee, appreciated the TV room.

“I liked the family environment and getting to be obsessed by the TV; I had to show a lot of energy,” he said.

Sixth-grader Zian Lack, who played Augustus Gloop, said his favorite scene was the Candy Man.

“Honestly, the most fun was to eat a lot of chocolate and getting to know the cast,” he said.

Thanks to the show’s dramaturg, fifth-grader Liam Morley, students learned a little history about various kinds of chocolate and sampled a few kinds, said Tricia Troester, a production assistant at the school who created several set pieces and props for the show.

Duncan said chocolate was incorporated into the show more than just the lines.

“We did talk about different brands of chocolate at the beginning and then organized them into teams by names, Mars, Cadbury, Hershey. We learned from our dramaturg the history of some kinds of chocolate and their production and sometimes we gave them a treat at rehearsal. Sometimes it was chocolate, but most of the candy on stage was fake,” he said. 

Liam also suggested with the $500 worth of chocolate Scheels donated to the show that each night of the performance when an audience member found a golden ticket taped to their seat, they’d win a chocolate gift basket.

“He thought this is a show where people get incredibly lucky, and dreams come true. So, we should give the audience golden tickets and have them experience what Charlie Bucket experienced — something remarkable,” Duncan said.

Another fun part was that the first-graders saw the book they listened to come alive, he said.

“This was their read-aloud book. They picked it because of the show and that was great because the first-graders came in and knew all the characters,” Duncan said.

The whole community, in fact, was supportive of the show, from more than 40 volunteers helping to three nights of packed audiences.

“Our school is so fortunate to have a full-time theater teacher,” Troester said. “(Our) staff and volunteers have spent hundreds of hours helping. Elk Meadows is known for good community involvement.”

Being able to teach seven years full time at Elk Meadows, Duncan has considered himself “the luckiest person in the world.”

“I’ve been able to teach these kids since kindergarten and first grade and we have some really good character actors in this group who could play all the crazy different characters and have really good chemistry together and a number of them are really talented,” he said. “I greatly appreciate our community, the Beverly Taylor Sorenson arts program and our school and our school community council for supporting our theater program.”  λ