STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK

Ida Belle Gorby remembers being six years old, decked out in sparkles, dancing her heart out as a mini genie in "Friend Like Me" during a Company B summer camp production of “Aladdin” produced by St. Thomas Playhouse.

Eva Hatzenbuehler remembers her 10-year-old self, fresh off a cross-country move from Maine to Idaho, not knowing a soul in the valley, and finding her people as a circus performer in “Dr. Doolittle.”

Now both are college theater majors — Gorby at Fordham University in New York and Hatzenbuehler at the nearby Sarah Lawrence College. And they're back in the Wood River Valley this summer on the other side of the stage.

A younger Ida Belle Gorby awaited her prince in her castle turret during the 2016 production of “Shrek Jr.” put on by St. Thomas Playhouse.

The two young women who grew up in St. Thomas Playhouse's Company B’s theater camp and went on to perform for The Spot Young Company, are co-directing and choreographing Company B’s production of “Shrek Jr.”

The musical will be staged at 2 p.m. Thursday, June 18, and at 10 a.m. Friday, June 19, at the Sun Valley Community School Theater. Tickets are available at https://ci.ovationtix.com/35974/production/1280032.

Co-directing the musical is no small feat. They’re teaching stage direction, acting and how to build props and costumes to 96 children ages 4 through eighth grade from the Sun Valley area and beyond.

"It's such a rewarding job, especially growing up in this program and getting to direct the kids who have also grown up through it," said Hatzenbuehler. "I resonate with those kiddos who are flesh and blood in it. They are so devoted. They're so supportive."

Shrek’s hand awaits.

Beauty is in the eye of the ogre in “Shrek The Musical Jr.,” based on the Oscar-winning DreamWorks Animation film and the Broadway musical. It's a "big, bright, beautiful world" as everyone's favorite ogre leads a cast of fairytale misfits on an adventure to rescue a princess and find true acceptance.

Part romance, part twisted fairy tale, the show delivers an irreverently fun hour of musical theater with a powerful message for the whole family.

Thomas Roberts will play Shrek; Georgie Payne, Donkey; Simone Spachman, Fiona, and Darby McCarthy, Farquaad.

St. Thomas Playhouse staged “Shrek” once before, about 11 years ago as a teen summer production. Gorby was in that one too — she played young Fiona. Coming back to it now, almost a decade later, she says the show still makes her laugh out loud.

An undersized Lord Farquaad (pictured here in the 2016 version, is a less than regal prince who hopes to achieve kingliness by marrying Fiona, even if he can’t look her in the eye.

"When we were reading through it, we were just laughing," she said. "It's been super fun to work on the comedy and timing with the kids."

The two directors have divvied up show duties. Gorby works primarily with the fairy tale creatures, diving deep into character work, physicality and vocal choices.

"I love the fairy tale creatures. They're so fun," she said. "We've been working a lot on individuality — like how their physicality works in their speech."

Hatzenbuehler handles the villainous Lord Farquaad's kingdom of Duloc, along with the dragon and the dragon slayers.

Ida Belle Gorby is pulling double duty this week as she co-directs “Shrek Jr.” by day and appears in the St. Thomas Playhouse Summer Theatre Project “SIX” at night.

The dragon alone is a production within the production. Four theater campers make up the creature, with one as the head, two as wings and one as the tail. During the dragon's initial entrance, the wing performers will manipulate actual wings puppet-style, almost like something out of a vaudeville show. The color palette runs hot — red, purple and hot pink.

"Dragon in my eyes is such a lady boss, a very independent woman," Hatzenbuehler said.

Costuming Shrek takes a different approach than it did 11 years ago, when Grant Carey's face was painted green and he walked around in tinted yellow skin for days afterward. This time, the actors playing Shrek will wear green costume pieces, ears and ogre hands — but no face paint.

Princess Fiona's dresses, however, survived the decade and are being reused from the original production, along with a cardboard Humpty Dumpty costume made of felt with rainbow suspenders.

The set blends rented, recycled and handmade elements. A tree backdrop was shipped from California in a box and unrolled on stage. The windows were originally built for Daddy Warbuck’s mansion and the Oval office in last year's production of Annie, and they’re being reimagined with stained glass and brick to suggest Fiona's tower and the castle.

One of the most charming props is a gingerbread man puppet dubbed Gingy that Sara Gorby, the director of St. Thomas Playhouse, built with Matthew Stern for the original production. One camper is pulling double duty, performing as both the Sugar Plum Fairy and manipulating the Gingy puppet, working two distinct voices at the same time.

The two-week camp packs an ambitious schedule. On day one, the kids read through the entire script and rehearsed music with St. Thomas choir director Joel Bejot. They learned some choreography, did story work with Hatzenbuehler and then auditioned and were cast--all in the same day.

Casting 96 kids into a show with dozens of characters took the directing team about an hour and a half of deliberation.

"We just want to find out where our kids shine and what role we think they would do the best in," Ida Belle Gorby said.

But the camp teaches far more than blocking and dance steps. The kids also rotate through art sessions where they stamp leaves onto a fabric backdrop, create stained glass windows and build brimstone for the dragon's keep.

The backdrop itself is an old-school theatrical trick—it rolls across the stage while the actors stand still, creating the illusion of movement.

"It's very vaudeville," said Gorby. "I think the kids will love seeing something like this old thing we used to do in theater."

This year, for the first time, Company B has both weeks of camp at Sun Valley Community School, which means the kids have been able to block scenes right on the stage where they'll perform. This week brought the moment both directors were most looking forward to — threading all the individual scenes and musical numbers together with all 96 kids in the room for the first time.

"I love watching all of the kids watch their friends," Gorby said. "It's just such a supportive environment. Everyone's learning. Everyone's growing. Every day is a new day to learn something."

The kids are learning confidence, stage presence, communication and collaboration — and, perhaps most importantly, how to handle not getting the role they may have wanted and still show up as the best version of themselves.

"That's the beauty of arts education," Hatzenbuehler said. "Yes, you're learning dances and songs, but you're also learning how to support other people, and they support you back."

That spirit of belonging sits at the heart of Shrek Jr.'s message — and at the heart of what Company B has always been about.

Hatzenbuehler, who arrived in the valley from Maine knowing no one, found her tribe through this program. Gorby met some of her closest friends at camp and is now directing alongside them.

Kids who come to Sun Valley only for summers return year after year, building friendships that carry them through.

"This musical truly speaks to finding your place to belong and that there's room for everyone," Ida said. "Just because you're a little different, just be who you are. Be uniquely yourself. I think that's a message we always need to be reminded of."

SHREK JR. CAST + Creative Team

Creative Team

Director/Choreographer Ida Belle Gorby and Eva Hatzenbuehler

Music Director Joel Bejot

Art Director Tanner Riley

Costumes Ida Belle Gorby, Co. B Interns & Co. B Campers

Set Design Sara Gorby

Technical Director Onni Petersen

Sound Operator Onni Petersen

Lighting Designer Megan Mahoney

Teacher Norah Davis-Jeffers

Teacher/Production Assistant Onni Petersen

Teacher/Audition Prep Brett Moellenberg

Personnel & Operations Director Wyatt Root

Company B Club Coordinator Sarita Valenti

Co. B Production Interns/Counselors Iris Bejot, Avery Berkey, Harrison Black, Jack Cohen, Sloane Connolly, Aria Crofts, Dylan Darley-Emerson, Elyse Duffield, Aspen Galbraith, Cru Kelly, Ali LaChance, Gaia Luem, Reese Maggard, Isla Masner, Molly O’Neill, Fiona Neville, Camden Patrie, Aila Pettit, Anja Pratt, Ingrid Pratt, Stigur Pratt, River Read, Zash Rios, Eli Sattler, Makena Seitz, Niko Smith, Caroline South, Soleil St. Onge, Sophia Toussaint, Eli Vavra, Leonie Wilson 

Cast

Storyteller 1/Knight 1 Teagan Shea

Storyteller 2/Knight 2 Hope Lloyd

Storyteller 3/Knight 3 Kaitlyn Cooper

Capt. of the Guards/Knight 4 Kate Morrison

Dragon Head Mykala McCann

Dragon Wing John Franco Garcia 

Dragon Wing Brayan Povis

Dragon Tail Olivia Safley

Bishop/Skeleton Ethan Cortez

Mama Ogre/Skeleton Gracie Logan

Papa Ogre/Skeleton Nolan Jackson

Young Shrek/Skeleton Jayden Orihuela

Pinocchio Justin Armas

Big Bad Wolf Nolan Jackson

Pig 1 Darlene Bridwell

Pig 2 Uzi Hale

Pig 3 Blakeslee Tindall

Wicked Witch Beau Kendall

Peter Pan Van Flandro 

Ugly Duckling Stella Jenner 

Mama Bear Aelexa Fowler

Baby Bear Heidi Lees 

Gingy Puppet/Sugar Plum Fairy Casey Rolf

Puss in Boots Juniper Farmer

Young Fiona/Goldilocks Lala Payne

Teen Fiona/Red Riding Hood Lexi Barthel

Dwarf Thatcher Ross

Humpty Dumpty Sawyer Riccardi

Mad Hatter Jasper Riccardi

White Rabbit Cora Harrington

Tooth Fairy Aislinn Klemer

Shrek Thomas Roberts

Donkey Georgie Payne 

Fiona Simone Spachman

Farquaad Darby McCarthy

Duloc Performers Eleanor Hopeman, Khloe Rios, Brierly Schroder & Georgia Brandenburg

Dulocians Jessie Maree Garcia, Brooks Robinson, Teagan Armas, Aveline McMahan &  Rafaela Lopez Bello

Guards Clark Livingston, Kira Kocev, Briana Perez Hinojosa, Ry Hopeman & Finn Mallory

Deer Sophia Simon

Pied Piper RJ Logan

Dancing Rats Cate South, Torin Farmer, Lane Hendricks, Galena McCann & Oakley Paitan

Woodland Creature/Rooster Carlos Arenas

Woodland Creature/Raccoon Sepp Flandro

Woodland Creature/Squirrel Mia Cortez

Woodland Creature/Frog Alena Grabow

Woodland Creature/Rabbit Katushue Hinojosa 

Woodland Creature/Fox Ian Vidalon 

2nd Grade/Duloc Children

Aitana Calderon, Lachlan Carwithen, Sadie Heckmann, Addison Hopeman, Kaius Kashino, Juniper Kesselman, Kiran Kumar, Poppy Lees, Sidra Paxson, Dagney Stanek, Rooney Stevenson, Leah Stratton & Phoebe Taylor

1st Grade/Knights

Axel Acero Pomazongo, Jordi Calderon, Charlie Madaras, Chase McLaughlin, Lisha Povis & Luke Stratton

 Pre-K-Kinder/Birds

Mari Bahan, Emrys Blomquist, Bronwyn Carwithen, Jasmine Gonzalez, Rell Riley, Atticus Stanek & Oskar Stevenson

Pre-K-Kinder Gnomes

Boone Brandenburg, Shepard Eagan, Gus Hopeman, Declan Klemer, Evie Loufek, Minnie Payne Jude Schubert & Lulu Swanson