NEWS

What's with all the people in Geraldine? Mother Goose, of course

Kristen Inbody
kinbody@greatfallstribune.com
“You feel me?” said Justin Roudebush as a gangsta Boy Blue, prompting Susan Bronec as a CEO-style Mother Goose to pet him in a literal twist on the expression in Geraldine’s community play, “A Story Book Land Saga.”

GERALDINE – A gangsta not-so-little Boy Blue, a Mother Goose who is all business, a black widow spider vixen, a sheep-rustling Pied Piper and a lovestruck farmer in the dell took the stage in an imaginative retelling of familiar nursery rhymes.

Geraldine, pop. 250, turns out in force for the annual community play, as do surrounding areas. Collectively, the three shows last weekend had nearly 400 attendees, plus the cast, cooks and many helpers.

“It comes when everybody needs a break with the start of calving and a lot of work coming on,” said Susan Bronec, who played Mother Goose. “It’s the last fun thing before we rancher types get to work.”

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The Geraldine Action Committee has put on the play for six years. The community betterment group is making plans to expand the old gym with a kitchen and meeting room.

JoAlice Juedeman writes the plays and this year repurposed a play she’d written years ago for a Fort Benton event. The cast groaned when they learned the theme was Mother Goose.

Trust me, director Lila Armstrong told them. It’s going to be funny, she said.

Only a week before showtime did Bronec really believe that.

“We thought, this isn’t going to work, but it coalesced,” she said.

The funniest moment – she laughed until she hurt – was when Richard Owen, playing Officer Tucker with a thick Italian accent, confessed he didn’t know his next line on stage during a performance.

Owen Stone as Willie updates Richard Owen as Officer Tucker on strange goings on in Story Book Land during a Geraldine community play.

Mysteries abounded in the story, with Officer Tucker and Mother Goose trying to bring order back after the Queen of Hearts lost her tarts, someone shoved Jack and Jill down the hill, Bo Peep’s sheep went missing and Contrary Mary discovered weeds in her garden. Among the biggest laughs were for Chris Joyce, who played a raving butchers wife with blind mice’s tails pinned to her shirt.

Armstrong has directed the play for two years but has plenty of practice after 18 years as a teacher, with performances every year. Five teenagers she once directed have grown up and performed in the Mother Goose play.

“Teenagers come to rehearsals because they can mess around after. They take a long time to memorize their lines and to get costumes together,” she said. “Adults have their costumes in days and their lines memorized in two weeks, but sometimes they forget to come to rehearsals.”

The cast updated Juedeman’s “Story Book Land Saga,” turning Mother Goose into a CEO and adding colorful accents.

“I said this has got great potential, and JoAlice said add whatever you want,” Anderson said. “It’s the whole cast that added ideas, even within the last week. She always says, I just write the words and they bring it to life.”

Perry Joyce, who played Jack with a head injury in the play, said much of the cast has participated all six years. He saluted the young people who volunteered as wait staff for the dinner theater.

“Queen of Hearts” Carol Tadej visits with audience members after a performance of a modern twist on Mother Goose stories. About 250 people live in Geraldine and nearly 400 people attended the annual performance.

“The young people of this town are amazing. They always show up to help,” he said.

Seeing the laughing audience reacting to the play made a month of rehearsals worthwhile, Anderson said. The interest in performing usually outstrips parts available in the annual play.

“As long as we’re having fun, I’ll keep doing this,” she said. “Until I’m a tottering old woman.”

Four-day school weeks sees fewer school-related absences

BIG SANDY – This year’s four-day schedule has meant fewer students missing class for school activities, fewer discipline problems and occasionally students coming to school on a Friday when they didn’t need to.

“I know the big fear is that kids will be tired and that it’s too long of a day, but I haven’t noticed that,” kindergarten teacher Heather Wolery said in a River Press report on the effects of the new schedule.

In the high school, the number of periods missed for school-related absences dropped from 1,504 to 912 in the fall semester. More students had grades that left them eligible to participate in activities, too.

Overall, attendance hasn’t improved as much as administrators hoped, but part of that is due to students with chronic attendance issues.