Homestake Peak School to perform Disney’s ‘Frozen KIDS’

Get ready to cheer on Kristoff, Sven and Olaf as they try to help Arendelle royalty, Anna and Elsa, mend their relationship and stave off the evil Prince Hans in Disney’s “Frozen KIDS,” a production put on by the third, fourth and fifth grade Drama Club at Homestake Peak School. The Drama Club will perform the musical Thursday through Saturday at 6:30 p.m.

Auditions started in February and director Debra Swain and producer Shannon Daniel have been pulling things together for this production since January.

“We have 32 kids on stage and four seventh and eighth graders that were involved in ‘High School Musical’ are helping backstage,” Swain said.

To be a part of “Frozen KIDS” many of the students had to juggle several other activities.

“They practiced at lunch time with others in the show, practiced at home with family and many came in for early morning rehearsals,” Swain said. “This is a parent-led club and the amount of time and support put in by the parents is amazing.”

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Two years ago, the Homestake Peak School did “Shrek Jr., the Musical.” The sixth, seventh and eighth grade Drama Club presented “High School Musical” in April, with Swain acting as the co-director with Homestake Peak School principal Stephanie Gallegos. Following the production of Disney’s “101 Dalmatians KIDS” last year with third through fifth graders, Swain said they decided to do another show this year with that age group.

“Because of COVID, it seemed better to have two shows with smaller casts, giving us better opportunities to rehearse in small groups,” Swain said.

Swain started looking at all the options last summer and looked for shows that had good parts for boys and girls and had lots of opportunities for newcomers to drama to be in several ensemble scenes.

“When I asked a few kids about ‘Frozen,’ I got a very positive response, so I researched the show by looking at musical numbers and reviewing productions by other schools,” Swain said.

If you’ve seen the Disney movie, “Frozen,” then you’ll be familiar with the characters and the plot.

“The plot has struggles for many of the characters and, of course, includes a villain. Elsa and Anna both grow in knowledge and understanding about what is important in life,” Swain said. “The characters are endearing because they care about each other and about their community.”

Swain said the students care about each other, too.

“There is a very diverse group of kids that get to know each other and I see them helping each other out, standing up for what is right,” Swain said.

Even Mikaela Shiffrin is learning life lessons from the “Frozen” franchise. Shiffrin just told ESPN in an interview that some of the lyrics from “Frozen II” helped her after not achieving her goals at the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. Shiffrin said that “The Next Right Thing” song aided her in moving on after disappointment.

Swain said that the students created a cast contract at the beginning of rehearsals which includes how the cast would treat other members, what was expected regarding costumes, props and theater equipment and behavior during performances.

“I’ve seen a lot of growth in the kids from auditions to performance,” Swain said.