"Snow White"

The weekend before Thanksgiving I had the chance to go see the play “Snow White” presented by Lubbock Community Theatre. The play was written by Tim Kelly and this production was directed by Nicole Caddel.

This show was a lot of fun and you could really tell the kids were enjoying themselves. This was the first production put on by the Youth Artist Guild. I had the opportunity to ask Caddel about the Youth Artist Guild and she explained that the Lubbock Community Theatre Youth Artist Guild is a youth program that enables students ages 8-18, to experience all areas of the theatre.

So not only were the cast made up of kids, but the lighting, sound, tech crew, and front of house operations were all manned by kids. It was really neat knowing how involved they all got to be and hearing about how much fun they had not only with the acting, but with the other aspects of the show as well.

The set, built by Gatlin Alldredge, was very cool and immediately set the tone for the whole show. The set consisted of two locations, the Evil Queens chambers and the Enchanted Forest and lighting by Ella Lacombe was used to differentiate when we had changed locations. It worked well and there were a few times where the lighting was used to very cool effect (especially when the Evil Queen goes through her transformations).

The Evil Queen, played by Azlynn Pinner, was a lot of fun and had a great laugh. She is not the only person to play the Evil Queen though! She transforms at two points in the play to Esmerelda, played by Maya Ortiz, and into and old Crone, played by Claire Cohen. They both did a good job and you could tell they really got into the campiness of the whole situation. I do think having separate actors play the parts worked better than if they had tried to use makeup or costumes alone.

Speaking of multiple actors playing the same parts, this show was double cast with two of the performances using the “Snow” cast and two of the performances using the “White” cast. I really wish I had been able to see both versions just because I think it would have been interesting to see how the different parts were interpreted by the different groups. I was only able to see the “White” cast, but they did a great job. The other cast either played different roles or were in charge of different aspects (ushers, sound, etc.).

The double casting, especially with a kids show could be a blessing or a curse since people don’t have as much time to fully devote to their one job, but it also allows the kids to really get a feel for all the different parts that it takes to put on a show. Ultimately, I think it is a good thing for this one because it allowed everyone to be more involved.

The part of Snow White was played by Saige Jolley the night I attended, and she did a really good job. She looked the part and really sold the sweet nature of that character especially when she meets the dwarves and becomes their sort of mother figure.

She also meets a pair of vixens played by Tessa Morales and Ella Christianson, who were great. They were able to really steal the show with not a ton of stage time. They were sassy and funny and one of my favorite parts, for sure. That’s not to discount the other performances, these two were just a lot of fun.

The dwarves (with different non-Disney names) were a ton of fun too. Played by John Parum, Ryan Young, Joleigh Torres, Kayln Saldana, Addison Parum, Lila Fowler, and Mick Kern, the dwarves were able to really embody their specific characters aspects and make them their own. While they were all really fun to watch, I think that Fowler as Gabby and Kern as Slowpoke really shined.

Other performances that I want to make sure and mention are Dakota Boyles as the Magic Mirror and Adelee Orosco as the Cat. The Cat literally just said “meow” when she was on stage, but always managed to get a laugh and the Mirror was just so dry and moody and I loved it.

I really like the idea of the Youth Artist Guild and when my son gets just a little older (how will he be 8 already!?) he said he is interested in being a part of it. According to Caddel, the YAG meets the 2nd Tuesday of each month from 6-8pm at Lubbock Community Theatre. Meetings consist of a student led business portion and an educational theatre workshop.

For more information on Lubbock Community Theatre’s Youth Artist Guild you can visit lubbockcommunitytheatre.org or write Caddel at nicolec@lubbockcommunitytheatre.org. Be sure to check our schedule for more arts coverage here at PBS Texas Tech Public Media.