Staff Writer
NEW SWEDEN — Fifth-, sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students of the New Sweden School performed their first major theatrical production with showings of “Miss Nelson … is Missing!” on Feb. 10 and 11 to over 400 spectators.
Aroostook Republican photo/Natalie Bazinet
The fifth-, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students at the New Sweden School presented “Miss Nelson … is Missing!” on Feb. 10 and 11. Participating in the production included, in no particular order, fifth-grade students: Laura Brigley, Kendra Furber, Shane Furber, Johnna Grant, Lance Lagasse, Brandon Morgan, Cody Moutinho and Zakary Zeigler. Sixth-grade students: Rachel Bailey, Kylah Belanger, Kevin Bither, Devon Chamberland, Andrew Christie, Kelsey Farr, Kylie Haines, Lukas Lagasse, Tsion Macleod and Sean Tirrell. Seventh-grade students: Brady Anderson, Seph Bourgoine, Desarae Chamberland, Courtney Cote, Ethan Gustafson, Jenna Gustafson, Shane Landeen, Albany McCabe, Glenn Peterson, James Wilson and Courtney Zeigler. Eight-grade students: Jacob Bither, Caleb Findlen, Autumn Kavin, Elliott Landeen, Kimberleigh Pottle and Sarinia Voisine.
“It went really well,” said music teacher Jennifer Holmes, “the students had to memorize about 120 to 130 pages, and these are fifth-, sixth-, seventh-, and eighth-grade students.”
While not every student had a speaking part or an acting role, each student was integral to the success of “Miss Nelson … is Missing.”
“All of the students had something to contribute to the play,” Holmes said, adding that during the last week of rehearsals, it became apparent to every student who painted scenery just how important their role was. “It became real and they were able to see how their work contributed to the show,” she said.
Like most subjects at school, some students particularly enjoyed drama including seventh-grader Courtney Cote, who played the role of Kimberly.
“It was fun to pretend to be someone else,” Cote said. “Kimberly is the opposite of me; she wants to be a super model and she thinks she’s a really big deal, but she’s not.”
Lukas Lagasse, who played Elvis, agreed with Cote’s feeling about the experience.
“Pretending to be in someone else’s shoes is weird, but [being in a play] was a great experience to have,” Lagasse said.
According to Holmes, participating in drama can help students get an edge on job interviews and other stressful situations: becoming comfortable with public speaking and being able to work under pressure are two things that students worked towards during play preparations.
While most of the young actors and actresses said that they weren’t nervous, eighth-grader Albany McCabe admitted that she was a little nervous opening night.
“I was a little nervous the first moment I was on stage, but then it was all good,” she said. McCable played Miss Swamp, the strict counter-personality of the sweetheart teacher Miss Nelson, who was played by Autumn Kavin. Lance Lagasse played principal Humlicker and Elliott Landeen played a very convincing Detective McSmogg.
“[Landeen] was really funny,” said Lagasse, who compared Landeen’s McSmogg to Mike Myers’ Austin Powers. Cote also mentioned that McCabe was a very convincing Miss Swamp.
Overall, many of the students found that the performance brought them closer together and hope to participate in a major play next year.
“We are all very grateful to Mr. Easter, Mrs. Plante and Mrs. Holmes,” said McCabe, “the cast and crew couldn’t have done it with out them.”
