Snake River Community: Great Neighbors

The Snake River School District is getting behind a new theater program for elementary school kids designed to better prepare them for high school musicals.

Eighty children took part in Snake River’s production of “The Island of No Return,” an original musical written by a Snake River graduate. The production was the idea of director Jana McBride.

“Once they get that experience when they’re young, they’re gonna be even better in high school, so the thought is if the productions in high school are good, they’re gonna be even better if we bring in kids with five years experience,” McBride said.

Many great neighbors came together to make this possible, from sets designed as an Eagle Scout project, to young artists building and painting them, to moms and dads working on tickets and fliers, to Wadda farms donating 120 potato boxes for the Aztec temple.

“It’s been such a community effort. Everybody’s done something and it’s involved hundreds and hundreds of people,” McBride said.

Leading man Caleb McBride sees how it benefits the young people involved.

“I think it brings them together and it’s something they like to do. I really gets them out there and they feel more comfortable around other people – it gives them skills for life,” Caleb said.

Corrine Larsen is one of two adults in the play. She’s also the assistant director. She sees how a production like this benefits the community as well as the kids.

“When they get up on stage and show them something wonderful like this, I think it’s a wonderful thing for the community to see the kids,” Larsen said.

Jana McBride hopes this is the start of a new tradition that will be good for the students and adults in the Snake River community.