Saint Vincent de Paul School finds ‘Trouble in Friendlyville’
SALT LAKE CITY — The eighth-grade class at Saint Vincent de Paul School presented the original musical play “Trouble in Friendlyville” on Nov. 17 with a daytime performance for the entire school and an evening performance for families.
“Trouble in Friendlyville” was written and composed by the school’s principal, Gary Green, with musical arrangements by Scott Larrabee, the school’s band and choir teacher.
“Trouble in Friendlyville” is about a small town of pig ranchers in the Old West that has recently lost their mayor in a pig stampede. For the upcoming election, the only two candidates, Phil Flowers (whose name strikes fear in the heart of everyone who hears it) and Maddy Lou Hardplow (who loves to eat and fight) are hardly the people the citizens expect to lead such a kindness-based town. The candidates compete in Friendlyville’s Best Citizen Contest to see who is best qualified to be mayor. When some innocent children get in the path of a big pig stampede, Phil and Maddy show their aptitude for the job.
“I love how the students took on this play as their own,” Green said. “They created the backdrops and signs, thought of what props to use, came up with multiple suggestions for stage direction, and did their own costuming. The eighth grade’s ownership in the play is what made it such a valuable experience – that, and the fact that the playwright is a genius.”
“It was fun being the first class to do a play with it just being our class. If they do another eighth-grade play, that would be great for future classes to get to do something new. It was also very rewarding doing all the set designs and constructing them ourselves,” said eighth-grader Kelsie Kruckenberg.
Classmate Piper Chenoweth added, “We got to put our own spin on it. Mr. Green let us do everything, and we got to do it the way we thought it should be done so it really was our play. It was so much fun; I wish it wasn’t over.”
Courtesy of St. Vincent de Paul School for Intermountain Catholic