Northern Tioga Kids Perform the Big One-Oh! Jr.
The popular girls at school will never come to Charley’s birthday party—or will they? (Left to right) Mirabella Collins of Knoxville and Adeleigh Plenefisch of Elkland (back row), and Kaylee Reed of Lawrenceville in front. 
Charley and Monsters: Charley (Caleb Wales of Millerton) only has three friends, and they are imaginary monsters: (left to right) Swampy (Aubrielle Urbano of Lawrenceville), Zombie King (Abbey Stevens of Westfield), and Alien (Sky Bacon of Nelson). 
Charley (Caleb Wales of Millerton) gets no support from his teen sister, Lorena (Emersyn Harkenrider of Lawrenceville) and her three friends (in back, left to right: Mia Newcomb of Tioga, Braelynn Bock of Knoxville, and Ryleigh Taft of Elkland.
Forty-five Northern Tioga School District students in grades 3-9 will perform The Big One-Oh! Jr. on Friday, January 31 at 7:00pm and Saturday, February 1 at 7:00pm at Clark Wood Elementary School in Elkland. These performances are the culmination of twelve rehearsals after school during the Hamilton-Gibson Productions Winter Theatre Arts Camp for Kids, which are free thanks to the Deerfield Charitable Trust.
“This is the largest group of campers we’ve had since Covid,” said Thomas Putnam, who runs the camps. “I’m so pleased. And they’re really having a good time.”
The musical, written by Timothy Allen McDonald, Dean Pitchford, and Doug Besterman, is about Charley Maplewood, a boy without friends (unless you count three imaginary monsters) who is about to turn 10. His teen sister wants nothing to do with him and his mother has a new boyfriend, so he decides to throw himself a birthday party—with a “House of Horrors” theme. Caleb Wales, a fourth grader at R. B. Walter Elementary School plays Charley. This is his first time on stage. “But you wouldn’t know it,” says Putnam.
Asked what they like about the camp, Mia Newcomb said, “meeting new people,” and Braelynn Bock agreed, adding “And I like the singing part!” Emersyn Harkenrider, who plays Charlie’s older sister said, “I like getting to be very snarky in the show.”
Participating students are: Hannah Atkinson, Elise-marie Campbell, Mikenna Cody, Skyler Cunningham, Alexis D’Haene, Oaklynn Earle, Willa Hultz, Aubrie Newcomb, Mia Newcomb, Adaline Jean-Marie Pacheco, Nora Shuster, Aubrielle Urbano, Olive Webster, and Caleb Wales from R. B. Walter Elementary School; Jazmyne Allen, Loren Bacon Nelson, Sky Bacon Nelson, Charlotte Bock, Mirabella Collins, Sofia Densmore, Anaiis Doan, Ella Gee, Lacey Gee, Leah Gee, Adeleigh Plenefisch, Kaylee Reed, Zion Roy, Jessilyn Russell, Anastasiia Sukhanova, Ryleigh Taft, Willow Taft, Damien Tracz, Mia VanZile, and Kameron Wood from Clark Wood Elementary School; Hunter Butkiewicz, Sophia Butkiewicz, Natalie Hurd, Lincoln Monroe, and Abbey Stevens from Westfield Elementary School; and Braelynn Bock, Olivia Collum, Emersyn Harkenrider, and Isaiah Terpstra from Williamson High School.
Another Winter Theatre Arts Camp for Kids begins February 19 to March 8 in Wellsboro. Auditions are Wednesday, February 19 at 3:40pm in the Deane Center for the Performing Arts.
Camp performances are “pay what you can” at the door. Bring the whole family! Clark Wood Elementary is located at 110 Addison Hill Road in Elkland. For more information about the camps or performances, call (570) 724-2079 or go to hamiltongibson.org.