The Hancock County Children’s Theater will perform its production of “Wagon Wheels West” 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday. A western, the show tells the tale of of Chuck Wagon, played by Aimery Kerkhof on Friday and Nathan Morris on Wednesday, a wagon salesman who comes into a new town and gets caught up in high jinks surrounding local gang the Snakes and its leader, Smiling Slade Claggett, played by Jack Joyner and Carter Pipkin, all while co-star Candy Kane, played by Abilene Kaucher and Eliza Hickman, pine after Chuck.
The program, which has existed since 1987 and has been independent of the local school districts since 2002, brings together children in fourth through eighth grade from across Hancock County to do a fully student-run production, from the actors to the set construction to the light and sound crew.
Pamela Johnson, director of the show and head of the program, credits the kids, some of whom had never been in a show before, with being able to put a show together as quickly as they did, with the entire production process totaling only around 60 hours.
“A favorite thing of mine is to just be able to watch the kids come in with little or no experience and put together a show,” Johnson said.
The show has a unique cast for each night, doubling the amount of work that needed to be done for teaching blocking and choreography for the show in exchange for giving more kids a chance to perform in leading roles.
Abilene also touched on how much work it’s taken to get the show together so quickly.
“You have to work a lot at your house,” she said. “I mean, all my friends are sick of hearing me at this point. They’re all ready to be done and over with this, but it’s a lot of work.”
She also noted how much she’s grown during her time in the program as she prepares to perform with it for the fourth and final time.
“I see my roles get bigger each year and, you know, the directors have more faith in me to be able to do some crazy dance or sing a crazy song, and that gives me more faith in myself that I’m getting better,” Abilene said.
On stage, the leadership that the older actors display is evident as the younger performers look to them to keep the show on track.
Jack described his reaction to being in that role model position this year.
“It’s a weird feeling because I’ve been in here since my first year, so I remember looking up to eighth-graders when I was younger, and it’s crazy that now I’m the one getting looked up to,” he said.
Both performances of the show will be in the Greenfield-Central High School auditorium. For ticket information, call (317) 462-6222.
