“Miss Nelson Is Missing!” at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre -- June 20 through 29.
Friday, June 20, through Sunday, June 29
Playcrafters Barn Theatre, 4950 35th Avenue, Moline IL
A family-friendly treat that the River Cities' Reader said “bubbles with color, personality, and wit,” the sweet and hilarious musical Miss Nelson Is Missing! enjoys a June 20 through 29 run at Moline's Playcrafters Barn Theatre, the show based on a series of beloved, best-selling children's books by Harry Allard and James Marshall.
In the world of composer and stage author Joan Cushing's Miss Nelson Is Missing!, the title character's class is the worst behaved in the whole school. Spitballs flying across the room, paper airplanes sailing every which way, and uncontrollable children send gentle, long-suffering Miss Nelson over the edge. But the students of Room 207 are in for a surprise when their teacher suddenly vanishes and is replaced by Viola Swamp, a no-nonsense substitute so awful that she even has the nerve to assign them piles of homework. Through the course of the show, the students learn lessons of appreciation and respect as they set out to find their beloved Miss Nelson ... but will they ever get her back? The answer awaits audiences in this delightful one-act family entertainment, a treat for all ages that the Buffalo News deemed "an enchanting musical" that "is not to be missed."
Making her Playcrafters directing debut with Miss Nelson Is Missing! Is Jenn Hoeper, with members of her creative team including: stage manager Gabby Hoelzer; producer Kathy Graham; props head Shalom Moore; set builder Mike Roberts; crew member Kaiya Goodman; and poster designer Jessie Mohr. A veteran of the theatre's recent productions of Girls' Weekend, Bad Seed, and Witness for the Prosecution, busy area performer Storm Marie Baca portrays Miss Nelson, with Jane Bostian enacting Miss Swamp and Principal Humleker played by WVIK radio host Chris Hicks. Eight local talents, meanwhile, complete the Miss Nelson Is Missing! ensemble: Lexi Brown; Whitney Brown; Giovanni Di Giacomo-Milburn; Johanna Fongie; Lorelei Hinrichs; Maisie Jacobsen; Julie Schnaufer; and Kaden Schmidt.
Miss Nelson Is Missing! will be staged at Moline's Barn Theatre June 20 through 29, with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Admission is $12-18, and more information and tickets are available by calling (309)762-0330 and visiting Playcrafters.com.
