'Little Mermaid' fever washes through Havre High School

Editor’s note: This version adds how people can buy the tickets for Saturday’s Mermaid Mingle

Havre High School's theater program is premiering its production of "The Little Mermaid" - including roller skates - Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the high school.

Director Angela Pratt said the cast began rehearsing the play in December, with 62 children, ages ranging from 5 years old to high school seniors.

"It's a big production," she said. "It's one of the biggest ones we've done."

She said the students built more than 400 prop pieces and 26 set pieces for the production. The students have been coming in every Saturday and Monday since December for build days, Pratt said.

"It's just a big undertaking," she said. "... Everything people will see in the auditorium have been created by students."

She said she has wanted to do a production of "The Little Mermaid" for some time. She said the story is one of her favorite since she was a child herself. She added that she tries to switch off every year from a male lead story to a female lead, and this year she was able to get the production underway.

She said her favorite part of directing was having the ability to work with the students and see how excited they are getting about the play.

"Watching them learn and blossom and get excited about theater," she said. "Theater changes lives and it's really neat to watch."

She said she has such a wide range of ages for the cast because she wants to get the younger children interested, involved and excited about theater as they come up into high school.

Pratt said that one of her favorite scenes is where Ariel's six sisters sing a song with her best friend Flounder about Ariel falling in love.

"I love the mer sisters," she said.

The song is a fun doo-wop number with a 12-part harmony which is a lot of fun to see, she said.

"I think the students are liking it," she said. "They are really bringing the story to life."

Tommerup will be playing the role of Ariel, she said.

She said that the production will also have costumes which were made by her assistant Andi Daniel, Julian Riggin and herself. She added that Daniel has been amazing helping her get all of the work done.

Pratt said that they are also trying something new this year with a Mermaid Mingle Saturday morning at 10. Mermaid Mingle was the idea of Shannon Lines and a bunch of other parents of cast members.

The point of the mingle is that the cast gets some recognition, Pratt said.

Lines said that she and her four children have been involved with the high school theater since they moved to Havre four years ago. She said that before coming to Havre her kids were not involved in theater and was amazed to see what kind of productions Pratt and her students were able to produce.

In the past, lines said, she was an event planner. She added that she often would plan dinner show programs and other premiere events such as fundraisers. Lines said that with her background she wanted to something similar for Havre High School theater.

"We just thought it would be so much fun to do something like that in conjunction to the show to kind of get people excited about it," she said.

It's not as much about the fundraising as it is about getting people involved, she said, have people come down to see what kind of work and quality of workmanship these children have put into the show, she said.

"It's not just a class that they have at school and it's not just Angie and adults," she said. "It's the kids doing it and it's pretty amazing."

The Mermaid Mingle will offer activities such as mermaid face painting, getting mermaid hair or for the boys getting shark hair, Lines said.

The event also will have opportunities for parents to take pictures with their kids with the cast, she said.

There will also be a Royal Welcome, where the cast are introduced in the auditorium and tables will be set up for those in attendance to dine with the cast, she said. Brunch will be presented by Chief Louie, the French chef character from the play, while parents behind the scenes prepare the meals, she said.

She said they have not set a meal plan yet, having to take in consideration food allergies, although it will have an oceanic flair to it.

Those in attendance will also receive party favors and treats, she said, as well as having an opportunity to get signatures from the cast members.

"It's just kind of fun for Havre to have something special like this," she said.

All the money which is raised from the Mermaid Mingle will go toward the theater program, she said. Lines added that Pratt works hard on recycling as much as she can, however things like microphones and lighting need to be replaced.

Lines added that everyone is welcome to the event,

"It's for our community," she said.

Pratt said she thought it was a good idea for the students to see their public and give the community a chance to see the theater on the inside.

Lines said she got the idea for the Mermaid Mingle after taking her kids to Disneyland for the first time. She said they had a breakfast with the princesses, which they really enjoyed. She said she thought she could bring the experience back to Havre. The idea can be adapted for any play in the future, she said, and she hopes this becomes a new tradition.

The Mermaid Mingle tickets will be $35 a piece, which includes the brunch and tickets for the 2 p.m. show.

To buy tickets, which must be purchased in advance, people must go online to https://www.facebook.com/minglemyevent/, scroll down to the post with the Mermaid Mingle poster, click on “See more” and then click on the link to the Paypal ticket account.

People can attend the matinée at the regular ticket price without attending the mingle.

There will be shows Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. with doors opening at 6:30. There also will be a Saturday matinée at 2 p.m.

Tickets will be $5 for children and $7 for adults.