'The House at Pooh Corner' Appeals to All Ages

Last year, Enumclaw High School drama students performed an adaptation of Shakespeare's 'The Tempest' for students at several district elementary schools. Sounds like pretty hefty material for the K-5 crowd, but drama teacher and director Darrell Miller emphasized the adaptation was age-appropriate and well-received.

Still, this year's choice of '' as the high school's touring production has to have wider appeal for the younger crowd. "'The Tempest' was a little bit of audacity -- to bring Shakespeare to elementary," Miller said. "Pooh is more fun. ...people know Pooh."

The high school students spent Thursday and Friday this week performing the A. A. Milne story at all five elementary schools in the district and continue with two additional performances today at the Enumclaw High School auditorium for the public.

Don't expect the costuming to reflect the popular Disney version of the characters though. "Disney has a very established Winnie the Pooh and Piglet and Tigger characters," Miller said. "This is the original A. A. Milne show that comes from the book. It actually precedes the Disney world."

More than 50 students auditioned for parts even before their previous production of completely wrapped. According to Miller, there really aren't that many parts in this story so there were several double castings "to try and get as many people as we could," he said.

Taking the tour on the road gave the students a chance to learn to adapt a production to the various challenges presented at different venues such as where to exit and enter the stage, Miller said. Nonetheless it's a fun production. "They know the characters so they get to play with the characters in a live theater setting," he said.

And it was a chance to help a young audience appreciate the art of performance. "Really what we're trying to do besides entertain them is show them there are these opportunities [in theater]," Miller said. "It's long-term recruitment -- a 12-year recruitment."

There are two performances of 'The House at Pooh Corner' today at Enumclaw High School: at 2 p.m. and at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $5. More information at 360-802-7807.