The story of a cat that wears boots and goes on “swashbuckling” adventures comes to life on the Oklahoma Christian University campus stage this week. First written in 1697 by Charles Perrault, the play is the retelling of a classic fairytale, “Puss In Boots.”
“It’s a pretty classic fairy tale where the main character starts out being selfish and, through her adventures, learns how to be compassionate and care about other people,” junior Lisa Pergi said. “So, there’s a pretty obvious theme in that.”
“Master Cat” is directed by Oklahoma Christian theater alumna Anna Wilcox, who commissioned the play for her theater in Colorado. Wilcox, who recently moved back to the area after years of running the Backstory Children’s Theater in Broomfield, Colorado, now serves as Oklahoma Christian’s assistant stage producer for theater.
“She is bringing the script here, and because she had a good relationship with the writer, he re-worked it a little bit for us, added some new lines and we’ve been really excited to put it on,” Pergi said. “Since OC has done away with the theater program as a major, there’s been no full-time faculty who do theater, so it’s really nice to have Anna be our director because she’s fully committed.”
Putting on this performance has not come without difficulties, according to Pergi. From the recognition of the theater program at Oklahoma Christian to rehearsal time, the cast of “Master Cat” have had to navigate obstacles en route to their performance.
“The hardest part has been the lack of knowledge that the theater department exists,” Pergi said. “A lot of the campus doesn’t know this has been going on—we get overshadowed by the musical. So, it gets really hard competing against that for coverage, attention and for the cast to really just feel like they’re appreciated.”
Competing with the homecoming musical, given its size and funding, has presented problems, such as where the cast can rehearse and the amount of funding they receive, according to freshman Anna Johnson.
“Funding and rehearsal spacing has always been hard,” Johnson said. “They had a lot of funding and we didn’t have hardly any. They had Hardeman [Auditorium] and there were constantly events happening in Judd Theater, so we had to be in classrooms rather than have our own rehearsal space.”
With the play being a fairytale and geared toward children, Johnson said the cast and crew have had to keep the potential audience in mind while planning the show.
“We’re going to be performing for a bunch of kids who go to public schools in the area and since they’re kids, I really just want them to have a good time and be engaged the whole time,” Johnson said. “There are good messages in the show of compassion, mercy and growth, but I think it’s mainly about entertainment and giving them a reason to smile.”
To help give them a better insight into the mind of their uniquely younger audience, the cast enlisted Wilcox’s 12-year-old son.
“He always comes and is kind of like an assistant director,” Johnson said. “He gives us this kid’s perspective of when things are boring and when things are funny, so that’s been really helpful. Just seeing how open she is with letting him be there and give his input has been cool.”
After the performance, there will also be a talk-back session with the cat. This will be a chance for the children in the audience to interact and ask questions.
Performances will be Nov. 15 at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 16 at 10 a.m. for homeschooled groups and for the public at 7 p.m. and Nov. 17 at 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Tickets are $6 for children and $10 for adults, with free admission for Oklahoma Christian students Nov. 16 with a student ID.
The information above comes from an EaglePR press release.
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