LIHUE — Fifth-graders will be sharing an ancient Chinese legend this weekend.
Island School students designed costumes, painted scenes, and rehearsed lines to tell the story of “The Legend of Mulan” that dates back thousands of years. The theatrical performance is about a girl who wants to be a warrior; she runs away from home and disguises herself as a man while risking death.
“Mulan is finding her purpose in life and finding out who she really is,” said Eva Hadley, who plays the main character in the first act. “This more relates to when girls weren’t allowed to do anything that boys were allowed to, and she doesn’t really think that’s fair for men to do all sorts of things while women just stay home and take care of the kids.”
Island School fifth-grade students have been preparing for this play since early December, auditioning, preparing the set, designing costumes and rehearsing two to three times a week.
Student actress Luisa Junqueria selected a pattern and helped design the play’s costumes.
“Me and my mom got this fabric from Miss Peggy, and we laid it out and traced my other dress to match it,” she said. “Then we dyed it black and grey, and we got belts to tie them.”
Ryan Biedermann plays two parts, an imperial soldier and the hawk-like character, Wing. The most fun part for him was “making all the stuff to accompany the people having sword fights, so they could have armor and helmets, and making the wings for the bird.”
“You can make anything out of duct tape and a dream,” he added.
The high school Chinese class pulled a couple of lines from the original legend, translated it into Kanji and chalked them onto banners, before the fifth-graders painted them. They created the entire set from a student drawing that was projected onto the backdrop while the kids painted it.
“The main lesson that they’re going to get is how to work as a team,” said Island School Theatre Arts teacher, Peggy Ellenburg, who has taught there for 41 years. “These guys are so hard at work trying to make this thing happen. At this age it’s way more about how you work as a team, how you band together and just push through the problems and make it work.”
Parents showed support by enthusiastically watching rehearsals, sewing realistic costumes and helping students memorize their parts.
“Every year the entire fifth grade does a show in the spring” Ellenburg said. “A lot of them have been here since kindergarten watching the fifth-grade play, so this is their chance.”
Volunteer Richard Porto has been driving from the North Shore to help the Island School Theatre every year for the last decade.
“I think that theatre is so important for the kids, and they’re so enthusiastic,” he said. “I love working with the kids and making it a positive experience for them.”
Student Misa Mycynek, who performs the role of an ancestor in the production, learned how to act a little better. “It was fun learning all the blockings (positions on stage) and seeing all the different kinds of makeup we were going to do,” she said. “It’s just a great experience to remember for fifth grade.”
“The Legend of Mulan” will be showing at Island School tonight and Saturday at 7 p.m. and 3 p.m. Sunday.
