Nesika Elementary School students have been hard at work this week rehearsing for their production of The Jungle Book.
The students, who are spread through several grades, are doing everything from working in the choir, to acting onstage, or even running the sound effects.
“It’s so fun, all the practices and set design and putting everything together. It’s awesome,” said Grade 5 student Kaydence Glanville who plays Queen Louise (aka King Louie).
“It always gets to the point where it is all of a sudden starting to take shape and it’s like ‘Oh my gosh, it is amazing.’ It’s pretty amazing,” said teacher Laura Seer, who runs the drama club at the school.
She said she chose the Jungle Book for the huge range of characters that students can play.
“We wanted to have a lot of different parts for a lot of different kids to express themselves.”
Grade 5 student, Elise Carson, who plays Shere Khan in the production, said she appreciates the range of characters.
“I love playing in the play. It is so much fun — you get to be someone else. I get to be an evil character and it is so much fun to ruin the show. I love being evil in plays because you are so different.
Last year, the school produced the Wizard of Oz. This year’s performance features many of the familiar characters and songs recognizable from the Disney movie.
When the Tribune dropped by a rehearsal on May 2, the students were putting some of the final pieces on the show — cutting out elephant ears, rehearsing their dance numbers — ready to perform for staff, students and the public.
The show, which has two casts, will have four performances. They’ll perform during the day next week once for their classmates and once for Cataline Elementary School, and will have two performances open to the public: one on Tuesday, May 8 and the second on Thursday, May 10. Each starts at 6 p.m. at Nesika Elementary and both are open to the public for a $3 donation.
The money is going towards new mics the drama club purchased this year, in addition to a brand new sound board.
“It’s pretty awesome that Madame Seer puts these plays together every year,” said Darby-Lynne Ferguson, who plays Kaa. “I like to see everyone performing.”
The Grade 5 student said she’s excited to perform in front of her school and another school.
“We get to express and show everyone how good we are and how proud I am.”
Seer said she is very impressed with her students, especially considering the amount of lines it takes to run a full-scale production.
“They have memorized a full play and they are doing amazing with it and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of kids.”
Even the students themselves are full of praise for their fellow students.
“It’s totally awesome,” said Glanville.
“I think people should expect a pretty neat production. The choir is pretty good, they are really great and our actors are amazing,” added Carson.
“We are so excited about the enthusiasm around music and drama at Nesika,” said principal Yvonne Davis.
Seer hopes the public will come out to watch the students.
“Come and support them, they are just blossoming as new performers and it would be great to see that all their hard work is paying off in the community.”
