Historic Vista Theater presents The Unwicked Witch this weekend
NEGAUNEE — A special Halloween production is going on all weekend at the Historic Vista Theater in Negaunee.
The Unwicked Witch is the story of three witches—Hobble, Gobble, and Wobble—who try to teach a young girl named Winona how to be a witch.
Co–director Bill Hager has a special story with this script, and he’s excited that it’s finally being shared live on stage.
“This script was given to me about 40 years ago by one of my college professors at NMU,” said Hager. “Before he retired and before I moved on, he said, ‘Bill, this is a script that I want you to direct someday.’ And I ran across it by accident about three months ago, and I looked at it and said, ‘I think now is the time.’”
The Unwicked Witch is a great, family–friendly show to see for Halloween. Co–director Kim Joki says that in a season that is often surrounded by negativity, this production is a fun, entertaining way to get in the mood for the holiday.
“There’s a lot of negatives about Halloween. This is a positive play,” said Joki. “This is a fun story. Everybody’s happy in the end, it’s just a charming, delightful little play. We have a young cast with some really great, up-and-coming thespians for the local theater, and it’s been an honor to work with them.”
Many of those young thespians showed up to auditions anticipating to be cast in children’s roles. To their surprise, they were actually cast in adult roles.
None of the young actors have ever had speaking roles in an onstage production. In fact, about two–thirds of them have never even stepped foot on a stage until rehearsals began for this show.
The directors say the young actors have done a spectacular job bringing this play to life.
“When you watch it, it makes everything feel happy because everything ends up really good in the end,” said Megan Collins, the young actress playing Winona. “I feel like it’s a really good play you should watch.”
There are two more performances of The Unwicked Witch this weekend, Saturday at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m.
For ticket information and more details on this fun Halloween production, visit Historic Vista Theater’s website or check out their Facebook page.