What happens when the Big Bad Wolf decides he’s tired of always having to be so big and so bad? That’s the question Spring High School’s Lion Players Theatre Company is exploring in its fall 2019 production of “Once Upon a Wolf.” Currently on tour visiting Spring ISD elementary campuses, the show’s home performances will be Oct. 3-7 in the Spring High School Auditorium.
“It’s about being who you are,” said Spring High School Director of Theatre Marilyn Ocker. “It’s about being the best ‘you’ that you can be, and not trying to be something that you’re not.”
Described as a “fast and furious collection of fractured fairy tales with a modern twist,” the show is the troupe’s annual children’s production. The children’s show includes fully staged home performances at the high school paired with a shortened touring version. The tour brings the high school theater students to perform at elementary schools across the district, where “Once Upon a Wolf” has been entertaining young Spring ISD audiences last week and this week.
Following Monday afternoon’s interactive performance at McNabb Elementary School – the last of three stops that day for one of the show’s three touring casts – Spring High School senior Makaila Heath, who plays the show’s main narrator (and grandmother to Little Red Riding Hood), joined her fellow actors to greet the McNabb students, trading high-fives and posing for pictures.
Asked what her favorite thing was about performing for the young audiences around the district, Heath was quick to answer. “Their reactions,” she said, “how excited they are to watch it and how much they really get involved in the characters – and just how happy they get.”
With three full casts and three teams of student crew members to help make sure each production runs smoothly, “Once Upon a Wolf” involves more than 80 Spring High School students.
“Each one of them is different,” Ocker said of the three student casts. “Yes, it’s the same show, the words are the same, but the shows are so different because each one of the actors brings something new and different to the performance.”
Theater fans both young and old are invited to come out and see the full production during the play’s Oct. 3-7 run, with all performances held in the Spring High School auditorium. The full performance schedule is as follows:
- 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 3
- 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 4
- 3 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5
- 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 7
The production is family friendly, with all ages welcome, and each performance will last just under an hour. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for students, and $5 for children under 12. To purchase tickets, and for details on which cast members will perform at each show, visit the Lion Players website, www.lionplayerstheatrecompany.com.
Tickets can also be purchased at the box office prior to each performance.