For the first time in four years, the Humboldt Collegiate Institute's drama club stepped out of the musical genre and straight into the Land of Narnia.
The cast and crew, who began working on putting the C.S. Lewis classic "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe" on stage at HCI since last fall, put together four incredible performances.
"The kids did an amazing job," said director Glenda Lees. "By Saturday night, they were having a lot of fun with it."
The cast and crew's first public performance was Friday afternoon when 300-plus staff and students from area schools took in the production.
"They did a talk back at the end of that performance," said Lees. "They spoke to and took questions from the audience. The one thing they would like to have changed, was to have done talk backs after every performance."
While the turnout for the next three public performances was disappointing for the club, the quality of each performance was exceptional, according to Lees.
"This is the first production I have done where there wasn't any technical difficulties. Usually there is something that happens, but not this year."
As with the cast, the technical crew consisted solely of students who put their talents to use using the excellent equipment that was available to them.
Costumes, makeup, hair, set design and the technical crew shone a bright light on the actors' ability to tell the tale of the first book of the Chronicles of Narnia.
Thrilled with the effort and end result, Lees wishes there would have been more than 250 people at the three performances.
"We had room for three times the number of people who attended," she said.
According to Lees, the feedback she and the cast and crew received from the audience members who attended was very positive and enthusiastic.
With the wardrobe door now closed, preparations have already begun on next year's production.
"Nothing has been decided yet," said Lees. "But it could be a musical."
