The student actors of Durango High School’s Troupe 1096 are going to take audiences on a cosmic adventure with their upcoming production of “The Little Prince,” which opens Feb. 28.
Based on classic 1943 children’s book, “The Little Prince,” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (a French aviator as well as author), the play tells the story of a world-weary and disenchanted Aviator who crash lands his plane in the Sahara Desert. As he tries to get his plane back up and running, a mysterious, regal “little man” appears and asks, “Please, sir, draw me a sheep.” This begins a friendship of sorts: The little man tells the Aviator tales of his cosmic journey through the galaxy and the people he met along the way, including his relationship with a special flower on his home planet.
If you go
WHAT: Durango High School Troupe 1096 presents “The Little Prince.”
WHEN: 7 p.m. Feb. 28, March 1, 6, 7 and 8; 2 p.m. March 8.
WHERE: Durango High School, 2390 Main Ave.
TICKETS: $15.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit https://troupe1096.weebly.com.
According to the troupe’s website: “The Little Prince talks to everyone he meets: a garden of roses, the Snake and a Fox who wishes to be tamed. From each he gains a unique insight which he shares with the Aviator: ‘It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.” “What is essential is invisible to the eye.’ At length, both the “little man” and the Aviator must go home – each with a new understanding of how to laugh, cry and love again.“
The troupe was rehearsing Wednesday evening, and, as has been expected from its members, innovation is a key part of the show: Their creativity with the sets and costumes (stilts!) brings the production to life. (Get ready for the plane crash is all we’re saying.)
“This show has been challenging with how many tiny pieces need to come together all at once, and I’ve been taking on my own independent design projects for the first time, which has had a big learning curve,” said sophomore Kate Graybeal, who is in her second year with Troupe 1096. In “The Little Prince,” she plays a part of the Snake, does ensemble work and is an apprentice scene designer. ”It’s helped me be a lot more independent and confident in my own ideas, and as an aspiring technical director, it’s helped me get a feel for what that will be like. Balancing the tech and acting workload has been tough, but it’s so rewarding to be involved in both parts of a show. The audience must come into our theater with an open mind and an imagination, as the most essential messages of this show require deeper examination.“
The cast
Aviator: Sam Bishop
Little Prince: Andrea Lawrence
Rose: Penelope Cartwright
King/Geographer: Arii Crowl
Conceited Man: Anika Laitsch
Business Man: Kai Harris
Lamplighter: Ash Lawles
Snake: Bently Furda, Kate Graybeal, Darwin Pfleiger
Desert Rose: Lindsi Parsons
Fox: Judah Azulai
Ensemble: Alayna Hoyt, Naea Lockwood, Shaandiin Matherson, Trypp Sander and Reese Hoyt
Being involved in all aspects of theater is evident in this production: Students are working both on stage and behind the scenes.
Heading up the costume department for “The Little Prince” is junior Lindsi Parsons, who also plays the Desert Rose and is in the ensemble. She’s also in charge of the aforementioned stilts(!).
“The main challenges I faced were sewing so many costumes, hand sewing little details, figuring out how to operate and use stilts, teaching the use of stilts, and it’s also my first time ever acting in a show, so a lot of things, like rehearsal, are new for me,” she said. “I mainly just want people to see all of the hard work we put into this show, with details in the costumes, acting, set, paint, props and generally all the time we put in. ... Costuming is what I want to do in the future, so it means the world to be able to design these costumes and for the masses to see them.”
And audiences wouldn’t get to see the costumes if not for the work of the lighting crew, including sophomore Arii Crowl, who also plays the King and Geographer as well as working on the set crew. This is his second year with the troupe: His first performance was a Gandalf in 1096’s production of “The Hobbit.”
Some of the biggest challenges with “The Little Prince” has been the intricacies of the set, including expanding the stage out into the audience with a passerelle (a sort of pathway), he said, and as with any production, the importance of the right lighting can’t be understated: The lighting for the production is very complex, and properly focusing all the lights to achieve the plan the lighting designer has set out has been a challenge, he said.
And then there’s the acting.
“One challenging acting aspect has been how many scenes have been creating moments outside your character and convincingly conveying a certain time or place through props and body language alone,” Crowl said, adding that the show offers an important lesson. “The biggest takeaway I want the audience to have is that preserving your childhood curiosity and wonder in the world is the most important thing adults can do.”
While “The Little Prince” is a story from the 1940s, the story is still as relevant today as it was when it was first published.
“This show is important because it really tells the story of the hypocrisy of growing up – It’s an absurdist piece from the 1920s because the war had just ended and they just wanted to get away and thought everything was ridiculous, so they synthesized everything into such interesting and beautiful metaphors throughout the show,” said junior Max Fischer, the show’s assistant director said. “It still works for modern times, and it’s really a good metaphor for growing up and getting older and escaping the trauma of war.”
katie@durangoherald.com
