New West Theatre’s annual Munsch production “ The Great Munsch Mystery” running Dec. 22- Jan. 3 in the Sterndale Bennett Theatre,” is full of familiar faces.
It is a homecoming of sorts for University of Lethbridge graduates William Banfield, Camille Pavlenko, Kelly Malcolm and director Geneviéve Paré, who not only went to school together, but have also been involved in previous New West Theatre Munsch productions.
“ I love working with New West Theatre. I think New West Theatre does a wonderful thing in Lethbridge. It is exciting to work with them again,” Paré said.
The young cast are old hands with New West Theatre.
Paré performed with Willie Banfield in “Marooned with Munsch” in 2010 as well as was in “Peg and the Yeti” in 2012.
Camille Pavlenko and Willie Banfield performed together in Munsch’s “Something Good.”
Banfield performed in “Give a Mouse a Cookie” in 2012 and “Routes” in 2013.
Kelly Malcolm performed in “Munsch -o-Rama” last year and was also part of the “Kitchen Witches” in 2012.
“ We’ve all worked together before. And we’re all University of Lethbridge Theatre department graduates, so we know each other from there,” she added.
She is excited to work with them again gain on the new production.
“It takes place in a museum, where someone has stolen the Munsch books. So one helpless security guard and two young detectives decide to find the burglar by acting out the stories,” Paré summarized.
The cast perform “Angela’s Airplane,” “Wait and See,” “Murmel, Murmel, Murmel” and Mud Puddle,”
“‘Angela’s Airplane’ is about a little girl who tries to fly a commercial airplane. ‘ Wait and See’ is about a little girl who makes wishes that come true,‘ Murmel, Murmel, Murmel’ is about a little girl who finds a baby and tries to give it away and ‘Mud Puddle’ is about a girl who can’t keep clean who is chased by a mud puddle,” she described adding all of the stories are hilarious and full of action.
“ Come for the Munsch and stay for the babies,” laughed Willie Banfield.
“ I think all of the plays are a high octane adrenaline ride that kids are going to laugh their stitches out,” Paré enthused.
“ The whole experience has been amazing. We laugh and I love just being able to get on stage and play,” Banfield said.
“ You took the words right out of my mouth,” Camille Pavlenko added.
“I get to learn how to read. I get to learn new words like ‘airplane,’” she joked.
“It’s just fun. I grew up with Robert Munsch books. And it’s always great to come back to Lethbridge. It’s great to come back and see friends and family,” Kelly Malcolm summarized.
They are enjoying the many characters.
“ Playing the Mud Puddle is my favourite. He’s just lonely and nobody likes him. But he’s fun and loveable. He just wants a friend,” Banfield said.
“ I get to play a lot of characters in ‘Murmel, Murmel, Murmel’ including the narrator,” Pavlenko said.
“ I just got my costume for the baby in ‘Murmel, Murmel, Murmel.’ So playing that is a lot of fun,” Malcolm said.
“ That’s worth the price of admission alone,” Pavlenko quipped.
The Great Munsch Mystery runs Dec. 22-Jan. 3 at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. each day and Jan. 2 at 7 p.m.
