(From left to right) Lindsey Plotner, Terrell Puller, Shideezhi McDarment,Camryn Ging, Dylan Shafer
On May 21, the Mary H. Matula Elementary drama club, full of students kindergarten through fifth grade, will perform “A Journey Through Time”.
Matula Elementary is the first elementary school in Charles County to form a drama club and put on a school-wide musical.
“It has been a labor of love by my music teacher, one of my special educators and a dedicated parent,” said Principal Carrie Richardson. “We are really excited to be able to provide this opportunity to our students as many of them are involved in theater and music outside of school. There are so many talented Matula students, and this gives them another opportunity to share their talents. We hope that being involved with the theater at an early age will encourage them to stay involved as they move on to middle and high school.”
The musical follows present day students as they go back in time to a one room schoolhouse in Port Tobacco and learn about Charles County history.
The music teacher at Matula, Carolyn Fisher, wrote and directed the musical along with Special Education Teacher Alexa Batterman and parent volunteer Lisa Gillespie.
“It’s been great,” said Fisher. “It’s been a lot of work because we had to write the script and do all the research but the kids are really excited.”
After rehearsing for five months the students are eager to perform.
“(I like that) I have the longest part,” said third grader Alex Habron, who plays Dr. Mudd. “It’s hard to memorize all the lines but I have it all memorized. [I wanted to do the musical because] I figured it was the first one in Charles County and I liked that people would come to see me [perform].”
The youngest student in the musical, Dylan Shafer, is only five years old. He plays the part of Dr. Brown. He said that he does not like standing for so long but he does like having a part and being in the production.
Camryn Ging, who plays the one-room schoolhouse teacher, is in fourth grade and said she loves acting.
“My sisters and I did Encore Kids,” said Ging. “I love acting, I think it’s really enjoyable. (What I liked about this musical was) I got to learn a lot of new things and [I like] singing the songs; and I made new friends.”
A Journey Through Time is open to the public and can be seen in the La Plata High School Auditorium, located at 6035 Radio Station Road May 21 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $4 for adults and $2 for students.
Contact Jessica Goodell at news@thebaynet.com