GREENFIELD — The county’s youngest thespians present a classic farce with an Egyptian twist with their rendition of “Tuesdays with Mummy.”
KidsPlay Inc. Children’s Theatre, a local nonprofit organization providing a community theater experience to kids in third through eighth grade, plans three show dates for the 90-minute performance: 7 p.m. Nov. 2; 7 p.m. Nov. 3; and 2 p.m. Nov. 4, at the H.J. Ricks Centre for the Arts, 122 W. Main St., Greenfield.
About 20 county residents have parts in the play — the second production of the year for KidsPlay Inc.
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After the last archaeologist “met with a bit of an accident,” the famed Oxford professor Rigby Melville is called to Egypt to find the secret chamber of Thutmes the Third, according to the Big Dog Publishing website.
A clerical error leads to ichthyologist — that’s a professional in the study of fish — Melville Rigby being called to Egypt. He thinks his expertise on sea creatures will be needed, but finds himself scrambling to contribute to the conversation when he’s plopped within an Egyptian tomb, said Owen Sickels, 14, who plays Rigby in the upcoming production.
“He’s a nerdy knockoff of Indiana Jones,” Sickels said about his character, his first lead role.
Soon after his arrival, Rigby finds both the secret chamber and the Mummy. The Mummy has just one request—that Rigby place a magic ring on his mummified wife Nepotatatete’s finger so that the two may spend eternity together. But when he places the ring on Nefertiti’s finger, she crumbles into tiny pieces, according to the publisher’s website.
That’s when Rigby must scramble to find another eternal companion for Thutmes the Third.
Sickels, who has participated in nine other KidsPlay productions since joining in the spring of his third grade year, said it’s fun to play someone so out of their element.
“I like his interactions with the other characters,” he said. “He’s in the completely wrong department. He knows he knows nothing, but he’s trying to act like he knows.”
Rigby tries to get out of the situation at first, then realizes despite his ignorance, he can help the situation, accidentally moving the plot forward, Sickels said.
The role presents unique challenges to the St. Michael School eighth-grader, especially because Rigby has 159 lines including several monologues as he gets lost within the Egyptian tomb, Sickels said.
“I’m trying to explore a tomb I know nothing about, and sometimes I have to do this really long monologue while I’m moving around,” he said.
It was difficult to learn the lines without pairing them with the actions at first, he said; he found himself saying the wrong monologues once or twice at rehearsal.
His years in KidsPlay have helped him learn how to express himself and be a better conversationalist, he said.
“It’s really helped me to be able to be a better person to talk to,” Sickels said.
Eighth-grader Elise Denger joins the cast as Rigby’s strident significant other, Nancy Doodle.
She encouraged the Hancock County community to come out and see the play, touting its nonstop humor.
Doodle is a bossy, princess-type character who comes under the spell of an ancient mummy, spending part of the play in a trance.
“I go into a trance by the mummy and then he tries to take me into the netherworld,” Elise Denger said. “I like how snobby I get to be as this character.”
“Tuesdays With Mummy” — which incidentally has nothing to do with the bestselling novel “Tuesdays with Morrie” — marks Elise Denger’s fifth play with the nonprofit children’s theater.
She’s grown a lot throughout her tenure with the theater troupe, said Heather Denger, Elise’s mother.
“She’s developed a lot more self-confidence, acting skills and presence on stage,” she said.
Tickets are available for $5 at Hometown Comics, 1040 N. State St., or at the door an hour before performance time. For more information, call 317-294-3087 or visit KidsPlay Inc. on Facebook.
