GILLETTE, Wyo. — About 150 Campbell County community members attended the debut performance of “Winnie the Pooh” Aug. 11.
The production, which retells several stories from author A.A. Milne and illustrator E. H. Shepard’s book, will take place again at 2 p.m. today in the hall of the American Legion, 200 Rockpile Blvd., Gillette.
While admission to the show is free, donations are greatly appreciated, according to the program.
Holly Galloway, the production manager, said the Aug. 11 show ran 66 minutes and brought in $475 in donations, which support Gillette Community Theatre. The nonprofit needs $705 to break even on the performance.
Galloway said she was grateful for the audience, noting that she needed to put out more chairs than she anticipated and more people than she anticipated joined in the scene of trying to pull Winnie-the-Pooh out of Rabbit’s home after he got stuck.
The production involved 31 cast members, and all but three were children. Robert Capron, Timothy Redford and Douglass Frost, the adults in the performance, played Mr. Milne, Mr. Shepard and a beautiful butterfly, respectively.
Frost played a butterfly to support his granddaughter’s participation in the play, director Tanya Johnson said.
The costumes and makeup for all the forest creatures were colorful, and, in addition to being adorable, the actors were inventive, with quick recoveries on a couple of likely unplanned movements, which the children worked together to solve or sprang back from with humor.
Aug. 11 was the first time the cast performed the play in its entirety, and they performed it marvelously, Johnson said.
“The kids constantly amaze me,” she said.
All children who audition for children’s performances receive roles, Galloway said. The theatre’s next show is “The Haunting of Hill House,” and the theatre is considering putting on an adaptation of “It’s a Wonderful Life” in December.
More photos from the production are available here.
