Petersburg’s community theater troupe will be looking to entertain people of all ages this weekend.
McQuaddle is a young dragon with floppy gold horns and underdeveloped wings.
The Mitkof Mummers are rehearsing McQuaddle: A Dragon’s Tale at the Wright Auditorium on Tuesday night. McQuaddle is complaining to his mom.
“All I can do is spit fire,” he says. “Mom – what’s my purpose!?”
But his mom isn’t interested.
“Oh, you’re too young to be worried about such grownup things,” she says. Now, how many pancakes do you want?”
The main character McQuaddle is played by Rowan Olsen. His dragon mom is played by Jessica Franklin. McQuaddle is sure that there is more to life than eating pancakes and playing with his friends. So when his friend finds a mysterious flier, he’s intrigued.
“Looking for meaning in your life? Don’t know your purpose? Find the answer to all your questions by visiting the wise evil queen in the castle on the hill,” he reads.
McQuaddle’s friends suspect that a “wise evil queen” might not have the best intentions, but McQuaddle ignores their warnings and heads off to find her.
During rehearsal, I sat down with director Tiffany Glass. She says the show is family-friendly and geared towards kids, but there’s a lot of fun for adults as well.
Tiffany Glass: It’s kind of fairy tale-esque. There’s a castle. There’s a queen. And there’s jesters.
Hannah Flor: And this is a play that’s really appropriate for kids, right?
Tiffany Glass: Yes, it is absolutely appropriate for kids. It’s actually written for kids. But just like other Disney movies that we might like to watch with our children, there’s humor that the adults will find funny also. I keep describing it, as you know, having some moments of like Monty Python-esque things happening.
Hannah Flor: And speaking of age, you mentioned to me that there is a really, really wide range of ages in the cast.
Tiffany Glass: Yes, our ages range from 18 years old to 80 years old.
Hannah Flor: What is it about the members that makes it appealing to such a wide range of people from the community?
Tiffany Glass: I think any community theater event brings out not only all ages, but people from all walks of life, coming together and putting together a play for the community. It brings so much joy. We all feel, even though we all are very different and we might not hang out in other aspects of life, we are there for the common good and that is to bring joy to the community and laugh and just kind of forget about life for an hour and have a good time.
It will come as no surprise that McQuaddle eventually does find his purpose. Instead, the surprises come in the way the play *really breaks the fairytale mold – no spoilers – let’s just say there are moments of absurdity peppered throughout the production.
The community can see McQuaddle, a Dragon’s Tale tonight, tomorrow and Saturday at the Wright Auditorium. Doors are at 6:30 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are ten dollars.
