Concordia Student Adapts Children’s Book for Plum Creek Play

By Macey Kroeger

Each year for the Plum Creek Children’s Literary Festival, Concordia’s theatre department performs for visiting students. This years play, “The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales” was adapted by sophomore Brianna Dehn.

Dehn said that the script she wrote was based off her favorite story growing up, the book of the same name by Jon Scieszka.

“I was originally worried that I wouldn’t be able to do my childhood book justice, but I ended up loving it,” Dehn said.

Junior Sarah Johnson, the play’s director, was pleased with how well the production went. When asked about how rehearsals went, she mentioned that she was surprised about how easily everything came together.

“Working with a lot of different actors who work and process information in a lot of different ways is always interesting,” Johnson said.

Throughout the day of Oct. 5, the cast performed the play three times in the Blackbox Studio Theatre. They performed one last time at 7 p.m. for the general public.

Senior Madeline Smith, one of the cast members, enjoys the opportunity to introduce theatre to children.

“I would love to be involved in theater once I start teaching, so whether that is just assisting with a play or doing a one act, I would love to do it,” Smith said. “I just love the opportunity that it gives kids, and I just want them to be able to get the chance to do it because it’s so much fun and it builds friendships that you sometimes wouldn’t have.”

Dehn attended the public performance of the play. It was the first time that she was able to witness her script being performed on a stage.

“I loved it. I thought it was very well done. The directing was very, very good. The acting was really good. It was pretty much almost exactly what I envisioned it to be,” Dehn said.