Nellis children perform "King Arthur's Quest" Published Aug. 16, 2011 By 1st Lt. Laura Balch Nellis Public Affairs NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev. -- Nellis children who participated in the Missoula Children's Theatre program performed "King Arthur's Quest" Aug. 12 and 13, 2011, at the Nellis Theater. "The 59 children who performed this musical auditioned for their roles on Monday, Aug. 8, and they rehearsed every day of the week, for a couple hours each day, to prepare for their shows on Friday and Saturday," said Bob Garcia, 99th Force Support Squadron community center director. This musical, conceived and written by Michael McGill, MCT executive director, tells a story of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table and the people of Camelot and how they deal with troubles that include being visited by the ghost of King Arthur's father, being confronted by a giant and being terrorized by a dragon. The instructors who taught the children included Morgan Briggs and Ross Egan, MCT touring directors, and it was clear that they wanted to instill some acting techniques in the children while encouraging the children to have fun on stage. "We've all worked hard over this past week," Briggs said to the children prior to the Friday night show. "Right now we need you all to bottle up your energy so that when you get on stage, your screams will be even louder and your jokes will be even funnier, because you guys are really funny." The children, who ranged from first graders to 12th graders, did just that during the Aug. 12 performance. The little Camelotians chanted their verses and the Damsels in Distress recited their lines with high-pitched voices. The Squires and Knights bravely volunteered to follow King Arthur, Guinevere and Merlin the wizard as they challenged the giant and the dragon. And the entire cast ran around screaming on stage every time the ghost appeared. "Overall, it was a great performance and we are happy that so many children were able to partake in this production and perform for their families and friends," Garcia said. Over the past 40 years, the MCT program has fostered developmental life skills in more than one million children. This year, approximately 65,000 children in nearly 1,300 communities and in all 50 states and 17 countries will participate in an MCT International Tour residency. For more information about MCT or to donate to this program, contact Cate Sundeen, MCT development director, at csundeen@mctinc.org or Don Collins, MCT co-founder, at dcollins@mctinc.org; call 406-728-1911 or visit the MCT website www.mcting.org.
