The excited voices of 11 children filled the room at Open Space Event Studios in Bend on Sunday evening.
It was their fifth and final show of the weekend, but energy was still high.
Thoroughly Modern Productions’ version of ‘My Son Pinocchio, Jr.’ finally hit the stage after months of uncertainty and a sizable break due to the omicron variant.
“It’s amazing what these kids have done at this age, I mean they had two months on, and then we took two months off, and then in four weeks let’s ramp it up and get a production done, and they did it,” said director and theater owner David Dacosta.
It’s the theater’s eighth year of productions, but this was their first time putting on a show only for kids aged 7-12.
Makayla Kirkpatrick, a 12-year-old who played the Blue Fairy, said her favorite part about the experience was the singing and choreography.
“It’s really fun once you get the hang of it, and once you get your parts, and everyone in it is just really supportive. You can get a lot of new friends and learn a lot of new things,” she said.
Kirkpatrick admitted that stage fright is a struggle, but it helps her to pretend no one is there and that it’s “just another day at rehearsal.”
It was nine-year-old Marcel Delaski’s first time performing with Thoroughly Modern Productions, and he landed the title role on his first try.
“My mom was Pinocchio when she was a kid, and I just thought it would be really fun to be in a show because I’ve seen a lot of shows and I thought it would be really fun to try and do one,” he said.
His favorite parts of the show were the story and the people he got to work with.
Dacosta said the theater company has thrived during the pandemic, despite delays and cancellations.
“Everybody’s been flexible, and all pointing towards an effort of making sure that kids had something to do when it was feasible to have them doing something, so we did that,” he said.
They welcomed around 50 guests per show, with three of the shows sold out over the weekend.
This production comes after their recent all-ages performance of The Wizard of Oz at the Tower Theatre.
On April 1, Thoroughly Modern Productions will announce all other upcoming shows this season on their Facebook page.
