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Homelinks prepares spring production

Audiences of all ages are invited to this year’s Homelinks theatrical production, A Spring Mosaic.
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Homelinks students will present their take on The Legend of Cowboy Ninja Bear as part of their spring theatrical production on Thursday.

Audiences of all ages are invited to this year’s Homelinks theatrical production, A Spring Mosaic.

This year, Homelinks students aged four to 15, under the guidance of program coordinator Catherine Locke, have split into four equal groups by age to present their first student-designed shows. “Homelinks students are well versed in theatrical presentations and, given the liberty to shape their own performances this year has proven to be a process of student-led, creative teamwork,” Locke says.

Each group chose their own story to bring to life, a cast list was created, and actors spent some time discussing the casting and audition process. The task was then set for them to cast themselves. Was this difficult? No, says Allison Girvan, who along with Kate Tate and Miriam Mason Martineau facilitated this year’s experiential process.

“Once the roles were explained to them, they were amazingly collaborative and expressed both what interested them and what they thought each other capable of. Many students know each other really well — know each other’s strengths. Even so, it was surprising how quickly and skillfully they were able to cast each story.”

Other elements of production were presented similarly: Becca Hunter introduced concepts of props and set and Toinya Sammartino navigated the discussion on costuming. With their guidance, the actors again dove in to contribute ideas and materials for staging their stories.

“Another aspect that has been delightful to behold is how constructive, discerning and caring the actors have been while providing feedback with one another along their collective journey of putting together this show,” says Mason Martineau. “Such a beautiful blend of humor, sensitivity and creativity.”

Tait echoes this enthusiasm: “It is so fun to work with young people who have such energy and zeal for storytelling. Our youngest group of four to seven year olds are thrilled to be performing, some of them for the first time.”

The actors are excited to have an audience join them to travel back in time to visit Captain Blackbeard in their stage version of The Time Warp Trio: Not So Jolly Roger, journey through a wardrobe in a condensed adaptation of C.S Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, blend comedy, music and dance in Cinderella Retold and discover the importance of friendship in their take on The Legend of Cowboy Ninja Bear.

You can catch the performance of these four theatrical presentations Thursday at 1 and 4 p.m. at the Covenant Church (702 Stanley St.)