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True Light students face challenges in preparing for ‘Life School Musical’

MARSHALL — A lot of dedication and effort has gone into preparing for the upcoming “Life School Musical” being presented by True Light Christian School K-6 students on Thursday and Friday.

Fifth- and sixth-graders carry the bulk of the responsibility as actors on the stage.

“It’s going pretty well,” said Coby Brownlee, who portrays new student Ben. “I’ve just been trying to memorize my lines and stuff. It’s been kind of hard to get them memorized by the time of the musical.”

Jada Falconer, who is cast as the Bugs, said that learning when to come has been the biggest challenge for her.

“A couple of my lines, I wasn’t sure when I was supposed to say it,” she said. “I was really happy when I got the part, though, because I’m like, ‘Yay, I get to be the funny one.’ I’m the person who makes people laugh. People don’t really understand me, kind of, because I’m different than everyone else.”

Allyson Sample’s on-stage character Allie nearly faints when she sees bugs, but she said she really likes her role.

“I kind of like it because even though you go to a Christian school, you’re still learning about more about God,” Sample said. “It’s not just a one-day thing that you just know right away.”

Like Falconer, Sample said timing was the biggest challenge for the musical.

“It’s a challenge to be my character, but still come in at the right times,” Sample said. “That was kind of tricky.”

The fifth- and sixth-grade student actors have been working on the musical for quite some time.

“At first, we came in from P.E. and we just read off our lines, so we could learn how to say it first,” Sample said. “then we started to stand up in the room with our lines memorized. We were slowly going into it.”

Teachers Angie Kesteloot and Shawna Holt are the show’s cast directors.

“After Christmas, we start with tryouts,” Kesteloot said. “Then they get cast and have time to practice on their own first. Then we start meeting a couple of times a week. It’s really intense practice the last couple of weeks.”

Early on, the students meet the cast directors in their rooms to run through the musical.

“Mrs. Holt and I tag-team it,” Kesteloot said. “Every day gets better, so it’s fun to see them start to get into character, to grow and change and realize they’re reflecting Jesus on the stage. They’re being missionaries.”

Kesteloot said the biggest challenge this year was that the only practice time they had was while the student actors were having physical education class.

“So they had to give up P.E.” she said. “Some of the boys were not loving that, but they (eventually) dug in and took it in stride.”

Besides the positive message, organizers selected “Life School Musical” in part because they didn’t have to search for or purchase too many props or costumes.

“We had a lot of resources for props in-house, so I didn’t have to go looking for a lot of things,” Kesteloot said. “For the costumes, kids were able to gather a lot of their own things, so that was nice, too.”

Matt Bemer was instrumental in helping with one of the largest props.

“We had this dad (Bemer) who built the time machine box, so that was a huge blessing to have that,” Kesteloot said. “It has double doors, so the kids can go in and out. That’s been cool.”

Siri Christensen is cast as teacher Miss Knowsalot. Along with Sample, Falconer and Brownlee, Jersey Leysen and Mason Bottelberghe portray students learning about life science.

“It’s kind of fun to be one of the actors because you don’t always have to do what the script says,” Brownlee said. “You can play around with it. I like doing that.”

Brownlee said he likes portraying a new student and that the Professor, a role played by Isaac Gross, shares Jesus with him.

“Jesus is the forever friend who will be with me wherever I go,” Brownlee said in a rehearsal on Friday. I get it. I need Jesus. The master key to life is Jesus.”

While the Professor is the first to mysteriously pop out of the time machine box, one-by-one, so did St. Peter (a fisherman portrayed by Oakley Knochenmus), the Prodigal Son (Tyler Sprik), Sam of the Samaritans (Jude Knudson) and Gabe (Jackson Lendt).

“I think we’re almost ready (to perform for the public),” Brownlee said. “It’s just sometimes some people don’t know when to come in. I’m sometimes guilty of that, too.”

Thomas Hanson has the role of the Intercom Announcer, while Jettison Wing and Justin Sternke are cast as the joke-telling school custodians. Faith (Anna Brusven), Hope (Grace Bump), Love (Gracelyn Foster), Joy (Zoe VanderKooi) and Grace (Aaliyah Fricke) are cheerleaders.

“The acting took a step up today,” Tricia Foster said at the end of rehearsal on Friday. “And when you’re watching (while they’re singing), you’re amazing. Really watch my cues because you know the songs and you know the words.”

Foster and Laura Hibma serve as choral directors. Cindy Nelson, Kesteloot, Sara Perez and Tim Low are choreographers for their classroom of students. A lot of others assist as cheerleading coaches, sound and lighting, T-shirt design, set design and props, prop helpers, make-up and stage construction.

While the acting and choreography is expected to shore up during the final practices this week, the musical selections — solos, duets and whole group — are heart-warming and awe-inspiring.

“I’m really excited (to perform for the public),” Falconer said. “I don’t really get nervous so much as I get excited. I know that I get to share Jesus with other people and I can kind of help them see.”

Holy Redeemer School students have the opportunity to see a matinee performance on Wednesday. The public is invited to attend musical performances at 7 p.m. on Thursday and Friday in the True Light Christian School gymnasium. There is no cost to attend.

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