Students drive a prop car across the stage during a rehearsal of “Hot Rod.”
GREENFIELD – Seventy years has passed since the era of drag racing and poodle skirts, but more than 100 Hancock County children are bringing the 1950s back to life with a musical this weekend.
Hancock County Children’s Theater presents “Hot Rod: Cruisin’ Back to the 1950s” this Friday and Saturday, and the four-week program has been a learning experience not just with the fashion and lingo of the era, but also about grit and determination.
“When I choose shows, I like them to have a message,” said Director Pamela Johnson, who says the music and comic relief of the show make the program fun for the children, but they’re also learning lessons of sticking to something even through adversity.
The storyline follows Peggy Sue, a former drag racer who broke out of the lifestyle to go to college but is asked to get back into racing to save her sister from debt.
It’s a fun show for all ages, a group of students said during a recent dress rehearsal.
Jack Whitbeck, Abigail Singer, Abilene Kaucher, Aimery Kerkhof and Brooklyn Wing agreed they’ll be proud to get on stage for their friends and families.
“I started saying, ‘Gee Whittakers’ (at home) because we spend three hours in the 1950s every day,’” Kaucher said.
Homeschooled, Kaucher said the program has been a great way to meet people from all schools in Hancock County.
“It’s a really classic and funny take on the 1950s,” Whitbeck said, dressed in an auto shop jumper. “Children’s theater is a wonderful program. It really brings out your creative side and you make tons of new friendships along the way.”
HCCT has been active for 26 years, having started in 1997 and originally funded through school budgets. When corporations could no longer financially support the program, Johnson said they started running it on community donations, as well as modest student tuition and ticket sales. This year alone, roughly $11,000 was raised for the program; Greenfield-Central schools annually provides the space to rehearse, in the high school theater.
The program teaches students acting, singing, set design, graphic design and more. It’s for children in grades fourth through eighth; they rehearsed from 8:30-11:30 a.m. each weekday this June.
Of the 115 students in the program, 82 are on stage and 33 are art students that work on set design, sound, backstage and more. Art students Kolton Bonham and Melanie Thompson said they’re proud of all they learned, from creating car props to painting musical notes on the set; Thompson said she learned even if the set looks messy while she’s creating it, she can stand back and realize it actually came together well when she sees it with everything else on stage.
Johnson said most students didn’t know much about the 1950s; some watched episodes of “Happy Days” to learn more. Boys weren’t used to tucking their white shirts tight into their blue jeans; girls wanted to pull their poodle skirts down around their waists instead of wearing them like their great-grandparents would have, higher around their stomachs.
“We go through different decades (with our shows) and this one struck me as fun music,” said Johnson, a retired junior high vocal music teacher. “It has a great storyline and the kids just love the music.”
There are eight adults that work with students in the program, and several “minions” – teens who have graduated from the program but come back to mentor and help out.
Wing said the show is a joy, with as many characters providing comic relief as there are serious roles.
“It’s four weeks and it’s all made by kids,” she added. “The sets are made by kids, it’s all kid actors, spotlights, everything is kids. It’s incredible to see what we can do in a month.”
