Lake City High production takes center stage April 17

COEUR d'ALENE — A show about a historical figure with a big personality, a memorable societal impact and a deep sense of compassion and duty call for a big, memorable production with a lot of heart.

Lake City High School's Troupe de Wolfe drama program will deliver that big show when "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" opens at 7 p.m. April 17.

Senior Sophia Olson plays the eponymous lead, a role she said means everything to her.

“Molly Brown, for me, was just me," Sophia said during rehearsal Tuesday.

"She’s a woman who broke the conventions. She wore crazy clothes and she talked to boys crazy like and she’s just herself completely," Sophia said. "But the thing that she does that inspires me the most is that she stands up for people, and she believes in people without a doubt and doesn’t believe that just because you’re at the bottom of the social ladder you can’t climb."

The show opens just days after the 113th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, where Margaret "Molly" Brown earned her valiant descriptor. Brown's heroic actions saved the lives of others, especially women and children, as she assisted them onto lifeboats before finally boarding one herself. She helped row the boat to safety, distributed food and blankets and once on land she organized a fundraiser that brought in a large sum of money to support Titanic survivors.

She went on to be a philanthropist, an advocate for children, workers and women's rights and continued a life of service and benevolent work until her death in 1932.

"It’s partly her belief in God that pulls her through, but it’s partly her own stubbornness to just not be down," Sophia said. "Those things combined, it is amazing to be able to portray someone who has that strength and integrity and to see someone who just really breaks the mold. And I think we really need people like that nowadays.”

Presented through a special arrangement with Music Theatre International, mtishows.com, "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" begins long before the fateful North Atlantic disaster when Brown — then Maragaret Tobin — finds herself in the silver mining town of Leadville, Colo., in the late 1800s, where she meets her future husband, J.J. Brown, played by junior Garett Matthews.

The story unfolds with musical numbers and high-energy dance sequences choreographed by Lorna Hamilton.

This large-scale production with a 21-member cast was made possible by a $10,000 grant Lake City received in March 2024 through a partnership of the Educational Theatre Foundation, the Music Man Foundation and Music Theatre International to provide accredited high schools with $10,000 awards to produce Dick Scanlan's updated version of the Meredith Willson musical in 2024 or 2025. A second round of grants for the show were recently announced for this year and the following.

“We like to do the underground plays, not the big Disney ones that everyone else does," said junior Kyli Swofford, publicity manager, co-head of run crew and prop master. "When we got the opportunity to be one of like 16 schools in the country to do ‘Molly Brown,’ it was insane for us. We’ve been waiting forever.”

Theater arts teacher and "Unsinkable" Director Dan Bell said the grant allowed Troupe de Wolfe to produce this show with less stress and more creativity. Without the grant, much would have been cut.

“The show has a brass bed and it has a lifeboat, it has an armoire that has to look like a vintage armoire, it needs to have fancy couches, croquet mallets, opera glasses, a fancy table and chairs, a vintage flower cart, a tea cart and all these things. Who has these things? No one has these things," Bell said. "We were able to use some of those funds and kind of go wild with the set."

This rags-to-riches story of a strong-willed woman touches on issues that are relevant today: Human rights, civil unrest, fair labor conditions, economic volatility and more.

Bell said as work began on the play, some voiced concerns.

"We always find somebody who will get mad at something they find is pushing a narrative or pushing some sort of story when really, we just tell the stories that are true,” Bell said. 

He said some also objected when the theater department produced “Badger,” a true story about women working in munitions factories during World War II.

"What I think really helped for a lot of people is understanding Molly Brown was a radical in pushing for things that no one ever thought of," Bell said. "Juvenile courts; she pushed for that. Women’s rights to vote, people having a voice who were usually poor and didn’t have the ability to contact their congressmen. Organizing soup kitchens that were steady ... She did so much out of her religious views as well. She believed that as a person who believes in God, you need to do these things and had the means to do it.

"She did it out of what she was commanded to do," he continued. “This is a religious woman who felt that she needed to do good in the world and without hoisting her beliefs on other people. She was going to do it herself.”

The show runs through April 26. Pay what you can at the April 17 show, then tickets will be $10 general admission, $9 for students and seniors, $8 for staff and students with ASB cards and $5 for 12 and younger.

Lake City High School is at 6101 N. Ramsey Road, Coeur d'Alene.

    Sophia Olson as Molly Brown arm wrestles with a crew of miners Tuesday during a scene from "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."
  

    Lake City High senior Gabby Haldi as widow Julia performs a song during a Tuesday evening rehearsal for "The Unsinkable Molly Brown." Also pictured: Sophia Olson.
  

    Junior Garett Matthews as J.J. Brown strums along to a song Tuesday during a rehearsal for "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."
  

    From left, Lake City High School students Irelynn McWilliams, Lydia Kirkbride and Gabi Johnson practice a dance sequence Tuesday during rehearsal for "The Unsinkable Molly Brown," which opens April 17.
  

    Civil unrest surrounding mining and politics are a theme in a scene from "The Unsinkable Molly Brown."