<\/p>\n
Next weekend, Cortez Middle School Theater will premiere \u201cThe Phantom Tollbooth,\u201d a play about making learning fun.<\/p>\n
It shows on Friday, April 20, at 7 p.m. and repeats on Saturday, April 21, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.<\/p>\n
The play is being directed by Angela Gabardi, computer and theater teacher at Cortez Middle School.<\/p>\n
According to seventh-grader Ellai Black, an actress behind the main character, Milo, the play is about the adventures of learning.<\/p>\n
\u201cMilo goes on a journey throughout the world of numbers and words and along with Tock and Humbug learn the importance of learning,\u201d Black said.<\/p>\n
This play is different than Cortez Middle School\u2019s last production, \u201cInto the Woods Jr.\u201d It is not a musical, and the actors feel they can have more fun with their characters.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can add so much and do so much with our characters and have a story behind it, and there is a bigger relationship with each character,\u201d said eighth-grader Koral Jackson, who plays Kakafonous, Doctor of Dissonance.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach character is teaching Milo the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
To Alison Freeman, a sixth-grader who plays Word Merchant, the play also contains lessons about time.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat you do with time is what makes it important, and what you do with what you learn is what makes it fun and interesting,\u201d Freeman said.<\/p>\n
For the eighth-grade students, rehearsals are bittersweet. They will head to high school after this production, and many plan to continue to participate in theater.<\/p>\n
Mikah Buris, an eighth-grader who plays The Awful Dynne, said he was able to make friends that \u201cactually care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eighth-grader Savannah Story, who is assistant stage manager and map master, said she learned to put herself into her characters during her time at CMS drama.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t worry about looking stupid in your costume or feeling stupid saying your lines because those lines are written for a reason, and you just kind of have to put yourself into it,\u201d Story said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to really just put your passion into your character, and you can find yourself by being that character.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tickets are $8 for general admission and $5 for children under 12, Montezuma-Cortez High School students and senior citizens.<\/p>\n
Admission is free for middle school students and staff, Montezuma-Cortez High School staff, and children under 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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