As the theater group gathered in the back hallway before opening night, they all held hands as they all shared their favorite part of this year’s spring play, Anne of Green Gables. After that, they did warmups to pump up their energy, sang their favorite song, pumped up their energy a little more, and had a brief pep talk from the directors. The spring play this year was Anne of Green Gables, and it has been a really great opportunity for the middle schooler actors.
Three of the leads are split between young and old. Three middle schoolers got to be Young Anne, Young Diana, and Young Gilbert. Kinzley Rezac was cast as Young Anne, Anya Nygaard was Young Diana, and Tucker Nobach was Young Gilbert. All three grow up into their senior or junior counterparts: Kinzly Rezac grows up into Meagen Pedersen, Anya Nygaard into Aubry Conway, and Tucker Nobach into Micah Katterjohn.
There are four eighth graders, Henry Nygaard, Willow O’Gorman, Hades Kammerude, and Tristan Pedersen, who are all actors in the school scenes, and a fifth eighth grader, Apollo Holmen, who does tech work. Nine seventh graders, Blake Johnson, Kinzley Rezac, Anya Nygaard, Elliot Iverson, Kira Manning, Tiago Hjermstad, Axel Lundell, and Ashlyn Palmer, are all actors in various scenes throughout the production, and Ryan Holmenn also does tech work. And last but certainly not least, Tucker Nobach is the only sixth grader in this year’s play, acting as Young Gilbert.
Kinzly Rezac said that “I enjoy having a big role, but I think it’s a lot of work because of having to memorize the lines and blocking, [the placement and movement of actors and props on stage] but it’s still really fun. I think it’s a big step in my acting career.” One of the hardest parts of the play for Kinzley is when she has big, long paragraphs and the other actor has only a few words.
The director this year was Annie Pedersen, and the assistant director was Cannon Quade. Cannon Quade enjoys having 15 middle schoolers in the play this year. Cannon stated, “They bring an energy to rehearsal that is irreplaceable.” Annie Pederson has directed 4 shows before this one, making this her 5th show, and Cannon Quade has directed 2 shows previously, making this his 3rd show. Annie Pedersen told us that, “Our theater works well for getting kids who want to get their feet wet on stage but do not have many (or any) lines.”
A total of 500 people attended the play. The audience was packed with friends, parents, classmates, and community members eager to support the actors on stage. As they ran out into the hallway after bows there were tears in the group’s eyes, some happy that it went so well, some sad that it was over.
