Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana
Serving Southern Jefferson County in the Great State of Montana
THE CAVE CAT CAST: Whitehall drama students (back, from left) Lilly Schober, Alannah Leonti, Sydalee Jenkins, Addisyn Gray, Zoey Lyons, Landon Popalis, Jordan Mercer, and director Liz Pullman; (front, from left) Lele Martin, Coya Kelley, Ierlyn Kelley, and Jeanette Blazevich. Not pictured: Sawyer Osborne, who was unable to attend festival.
The drama students are sent off on Thursday, February 15th.
Whitehall Drama took THE CAVE CAT, written in 1976 by Ford Ainsworth, to state competition at the Montana Thespian Festival at the University of Montana in Missoula over the weekend. WHS competed against schools from across the state, including Hellgate High, Great Falls, Sentinel, Hardin, Big Sky, Capital High, CMR, Plains, Helena, Billings Senior, Gallatin, and Bozeman. This was the first time in fifteen years that WHS Drama has competed at festival.
Eleven students and two chaperones took in the festival, with over 25 workshops held in conjunction with the offered student plays. Students were able to attend classes on everything from screenwriting and stage management to creating costumes and cinematography. On Friday, February 16th the students enjoyed the University of Montana's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
WHS Drama was adjudicated by two judges immediately after their Saturday morning performance. While the group did not bring home any awards, the judges' critique will be put to use in the upcoming Whitehall performances of THE CAVE CAT on March 8th and 9th at 6 PM in the WHS Multi-Purpose room.
THE CAVE CAT is a timeless tale with a bit of a twist. The play's theme is the struggle of youth to surmount the established conventions of a society that divides all cats into three rigidly maintained categories.
At the outset, the idealistic young cat (junior Lele Martin) feels that she is a misfit since she does not possess the characteristics of her respectable middle-class "lion" parents (sophomore Addisyn Gray and home-schooler Landon Popalis.
As she struggles to establish her true identity, however, she discovers that these characteristics are only masquerade costume pieces which obscure the fact that all lions, her parents included, are really only plain cats like herself. At the core is the desperate struggle of the individual to maintain integrity under the pressures of social conformity.
As the cave cat makes her way to the truth, she encounters the Lion Chicks (8th grader Lilly Schober and home-schooler Sydalee Jenkins), the Priest Cat (sophomore Jordan Mercer), the tigers Zelma (sophomore Coya Kelley), Zula (8th grader Zoey Lyons, and Ziggy (freshman Jeannette Blazevich), and the Leopard Chick (freshman Allanah Leonti).
This one-act play is directed by WHS drama instructor Liz Pullman, with 8th grader Ierlyn Kelley serving as stage manager. Sawyer Osborne was unable to attend the festival due to an injury but will be working the lights at the local productions.
While the play is short and has a minimal set, this one-act packs a lot of punch with strong makeup, costumes, and touching subject matter. Admission will be $5 per person; donations to WHS Drama are accepted and appreciated.
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