Osoyoos Secondary School drama club rehearses for their upcoming performance of Shrek the Musical Jr. debuting May 10 at the Osoyoos Community Theatre at 7 p.m. (Dale Boyd/Osoyoos Times)
By Dale Boyd
Osoyoos Times
The spring performance of Shrek the Musical Jr. by Osoyoos Secondary School students features a 10-foot-tall dragon puppet, prosthetics and a flurry of costume changes — but the most challenging thing for the actors so far is keeping a straight face.
“It’s hard when we’re on stage not to laugh. There are times when we have to be super serious, but everyone else is going to be laughing,” said Lianne Schiels.
The Grade 11 student plays Fiona, whom Shrek falls in love with, unaware of a certain secret she has been keeping.
“You have to do a lot of things that are embarrassing,” Schiels laughed.
Drama club senior Tanner Keim, who takes on the titular Shrek, grew up with both the animated film and its second life online as meme material.
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“I thought, oh we’re doing Shrek, that’s amazing I want to be Shrek!” Keim said. “For my 12th grade year I want to go full out.”
Going full out includes a heavy amount of make up and prosthetics, which Keim hasn’t experienced the full sense of yet due to the cost of the materials.
“Yesterday we had a rehearsal and it was difficult to hear and sing as well,” Keim said, adding it is a fun challenge to take on.
Ethan Kuzmak, also in his senior year, plays Shrek’s buddy Donkey. Kuzmak said the character doesn’t so much have lines as he does “paragraphs.” The fast-talking, wise-cracking donkey has been a fun role to take on, he said.
“It’s sad because it’s both of our last (performances),” Kuzmak said.
He and Keim recalled starting with one-line roles in Grade 9 performances and the journey to starring roles.
“It’s sad, but it’s nice. It’s good to have this kind of program we can kind of grow up with and finally be here where we both main roles,” Kuzmak said.
Osoyoos Secondary School drama club students (from left) Ethan Kuzmak, Tanner Keim and Lianne Schiels take on leading roles in the school’s upcoming production of Shrek the Musical. (Dale Boyd/Osoyoos Times)
Grade 9 student Jake Subotin is taking on the role of the villain with a “short” temper, Lord Farquaad. He agreed the hilarity of the play does make it hard to hold in the laughs, especially with his character.
“The first time I put on my wig, everyone was pretty giggly,” Subotin said.
Subotin will be performing as the notably short Farquaad using a rig his mom made to have fake legs half his size while he performs mostly on the attached pads for his knees, which in turn move the comically short legs.
“It will be a lot of effort to go on those legs, but it’s a fun role to play,” Subotin said. “Very flamboyant. I’m kind of right at home, I’m usually very loud.”
Shrek the Musical Jr. an adaptation of the film version of Shrek, debuting on Broadway in 2008 and drama teacher Sarah Gilchrist said the play has a little something for everyone.
“It’s got a lot of the same characters and a lot of the lines are similar to the original animated version,” Gilchrist said. “Obviously they’ve added songs into this one. Personally I think this is the better version, or more broadly appealing.”
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All the humour and farcical fairy tales from the film present in the stage version, and bringing the colourful world to life has been quite an undertaking from a technical standpoint.
The show features over 60 costumes with 25 actors, some playing three or four characters.
“They have costume changes between pretty much every scene,” Gilchrist said.
Kelowna actors studio is lending a 10-foot professional dragon puppet with light-up eyes as well.
“I know some older people in the community might not necessarily know Shrek because it’s a newer film, but it’s not about knowing the show. It’s about coming and supporting the students, they’ve worked really hard on this,” Gilchrist said. “It’s a community theatre event that we are hoping people will come out and support because it’s part of the identity of the town.”
Opening night for Shrek the Musical Jr. is May 10 at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at OSS in the Osoyoos Community Theatre for $12. The show also runs May 11 at 7 p.m. and there is a matinee performance on May 12 at 2 p.m.
Osoyoos Secondary School drama club rehearses for their upcoming performance of Shrek the Musical Jr. debuting May 10 at the Osoyoos Community Theatre at 7 p.m. (Dale Boyd/Osoyoos Times)
