missoula children's theatre documentary

Riding Along with “The Little Red Truck”

By Jessica Mayrer, 7-24-07

Each year the Missoula Children’s Theatre with its little red trucks visits more than 1,000 communities in North America and beyond and recruits young students to perform full-scale musicals. Everything needed to put on a performance is packed into the trucks—scenery, costumes, props, make-up, etc.—and it’s all done in one week. The only thing missing is the cast. 

Rob Whitehair and Pam Voth’s upcoming documentary film “The Little Red Truck” chronicles MCT’s tour over the course of one week as children in six different communities simultaneously prepare for their performances. The week begins with MCT’s arrival on Monday and the subsequent casting call that brings in dozens of local kids, six days of intense rehearsals, and finally the performance of the musical on two consecutive evenings.

The film, which was the subject of last week’s City Club forum in Missoula, is expected to be completed in September. Click here to watch the trailer.

Organizers say this is a great, hands-on opportunity for kids to learn teamwork, commitment and confidence through the performing arts. 

“They put their whole energy into a thing that involves teamwork,” says Voth, the film’s producer and cinematographer.  “They can produce something and create something that’s bigger than themselves.”

The tough part for the filmmakers, she says, is narrowing down 300 hours of footage into a feature-length, 100-minute documentary.

“As you can imagine, with 300 hours of footage, there are a lot of stories that can be told,” she says.

MCT has toured for more than 30 years, visiting nearly 1,100 communities annually across the U.S., Canada and overseas.

Voth hopes to release the film in theaters across the country after its completion in September.

Check out MCT’s website for more information: www.mctinc.org.

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