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Vintage bullying

| March 14, 2014 9:00 PM

"The Hundred Dresses" is a play described as "a sort of historical primer on the subject of bullying."

Performed tonight and Saturday by Troupe de Wolfe, Lake City High School's student theater company, "The Hundred Dresses" is Mary Hall Surface's stage adaptation of a 1944 Newbery Honor Book by Eleanor Estes.

It tells a gentle story that packs a powerful message about the personal impact bullying can have on both the bully and the victim.

Directed by Kelly Stagner, the story is set in 1938, and features children living through the Great Depression.

Most of their families are struggling, but the arrival in their class of European immigrant Wanda (Grace Warnick) offers them someone even worse off to tease. Told mostly from the point of view of Maddie (Sydney Bell), we feel her reluctance as her friend Peggy (Brittney Ellenbecker) assumes she can have "fun" with this strange talking newcomer.

When Wanda senses that dresses are important and tries to befriend Peggy by telling her that she has a hundred of them, Peggy's "joking" takes on systematic proportions that ends with Wanda's family moving away.

Although Maddie is careful not to tease Wanda, she nevertheless does nothing to deter Peggy and the others. Their friend Cecile (Kathleen Cox) completes the trio and the taunting as she brags about having an outfit that must surely be from Paris.

The boys played by Kyto Katori (Jack) and Noah Garrett (Willie) are typical boys, but still scrappy and mischievous. They have little to do with Wanda's brother Jacob (Michel Terry), who is praised for his voluntary daily cleaning of the school floors, but their obsession with the old man on the hill, Mr. Svenson (Apollo Rose), illustrates how fear can lead youngsters to cruel actions in order to test their own courage. Other talent includes Vanessa Ventresco as Shelly and Emily Strong as Miss Mason.

"The Hundred Dresses" will be performed at 7 p.m. tonight and Saturday in the Lake City High School Auditorium, 6101 Ramsey Road, Coeur d'Alene. A number of presentations will be given to local school children as well. Tickets are $5 general admission, $4 student and seniors, $3 with a Lake City ASB. Tickets will be available at the box office only, beginning at 6 p.m.

Info: sseaton@cdaschools.org