ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
“Willy Wonka” follows the story of a young boy from a poor family who dreams of finding one of five golden tickets hidden inside chocolate bar wrappers which will admit him to a magical chocolate factory.
Later this month, Liberal’s Rainbow Players community theater group will bring the story to life on the stage of the Rapid Fit Showcase Theater at Seward County Community College.
Alaura Howery, the director for the local production of “Willy Wonka,” said the Rainbow Players version is a cut version of the story by Roald Dahl, with 37 cast members ranging from age 10 to senior citizen. Howery added the play likewise features a variety of songs and wacky costumes.
“We went for a super abstract look to it,” she said. “Abstract theater’s way more fun than realistic theater.”
Howery said when she first heard Rainbow Players was looking for a director for “Willy Wonka,” she was immediately interested.
“I’ve never directed a musical before. I have directed in the past, but this was a much bigger undertaking than I have done before,” she said. “‘Willy Wonka’ is one of those stories that has been there my whole life like ‘Peter Pan’ and ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ It’s stepping into this crazy space to learn a life lesson that I really love.”
Howery directed two productions at Liberal High School as part of that school’s summer drama program, and even with her directing experience being limited, she said heading up a production comes natural to her.
“When I come on stage and I direct these kids and teach them the things I learned in college and all of the stuff I’ve done for drama because it’s been my entire life, it’s the same as breathing air,” she said. “I know exactly what I want, and I know how to get them to do what I want in helping them create this living art. It’s what I live for. It’s beautiful.”
Auditions for “Willy Wonka” took place earlier this year, and rehearsals began not long after that. Thus far, Howery said practices are going much better than she had expected.
“When I did the regular shows that weren’t musicals, rehearsals were pretty intense a few times, but this group, I have never had rehearsals where we did off book,” she said. “They’re not allowed to have their scripts, but they can call lines if they don’t remember. We had maybe five lines called. I’ve never had that happen before. I’ve been continuously impressed by the talent of this group.”
Also rare for a production, all who auditioned for “Willy Wonka” were cast. Howery said this was done in order to create a big chorus sound.
“We have lots of kids audition, lots of really talented kids, which was very good,” she said. “We weren’t sure what kind of crowd we were going to get with advertising for auditions, but we had a lot of new people. We also had a lot of people who came back from previous shows. I didn’t know any of them because this is the first time I’m directing for Rainbow Players. It was really nice to see Liberal show up and to see them come together for a community effort.”
In her previous directing experience, Howery had primarily worked with high school students, and she said her past experience with children age 8 to 13 was not the best.
“They usually require backstage chaperoning, and a lot of times, it was the director who had to do that,” she said. “They weren’t able to focus on the rest of the cast.”
Howery said she talked to Rainbow Players’ Trina Fosdick, and she told Fosdick she would do the upcoming production if it did not involve babysitting child cast members.
“She reassured me Rainbow Players has always had a good grip on child casts. You have to have children in a cast to bring in big profits,” Howery said. “You have all the grandparents, the parents and the cousins come, and it’s important to show any age in a community can create art like this. It has been challenging, but the parents have stepped up, and all of the adults in the cast have been generous with their time in making sure everybody’s where they’re supposed to be so I can focus on directing. I’ve been very grateful for that.”
Howery said those who come to see “Willy Wonka” in the Showcase Theater are in store for what she calls an organized fever dream.
“When I proposed my idea for the show, I wanted the first act to be this very drab dip into realism of this is how crappy life is, and here is how cool, brightly colored and trippy experience Wonka’s factory is,” she said. “We are probably going to have to put a strobe warning on our program just because of the amount of lights and special effects I’m going to be doing. I’m so excited. All of the songs sound incredible. The acting has been good with solid line delivery. I’m very proud of how it turned out.”
Howery said while practices are going well, they can only get better as opening night approaches.
“If we had to do opening night tomorrow night, it wouldn’t be the worst thing,” she said. “It wouldn’t be as amazing as it’s going to be once we do dress rehearsal, but with what we have right now, it’s pretty solid. I can’t imagine how much better it’s going to get once we add costumes and lights.”
Rainbow Players’ “Willy Wonka” will run nightly July 11, 12 and 13, with performances starting at 7 p.m. Tickets can be pre-ordered at www.onthestage.tickets/show/rainbow-players. Tickets at the door are $13 for adults and $10 for children and seniors. For more information, go to www.rainbowplayers.org.
