Production gives talent time to shine

We're just finishing up the summer baseball season, summer McCook Football League finishes up tonight, and we'll barely have a chance to catch our breath before football and other fall sports begin.

Yes, sports play an important part of life on the Golden Plains, but that doesn't mean you have to be a jock to find ways to excel.

For instance, how about the upcoming production of "Alice in Wonderland" by the Missoula Children's Theatre with the help of half a hundred or so local children?

Open auditions are 9 a.m. Monday at the McCook Junior High Cafeteria, and the shows are set for 3 and 7 p.m. the following Saturday in the High School Auditorium.

If you've never seen a Missoula Children's Theatre production, you're missing out. Funded by the Southwest Nebraska Community Theater Association, McCook Arts Council and McCook Optimist Club, the production is the fourth one with which our community has been blessed.

The troupe has previously done "Treasure Island," "Pinocchio" and "Tales of Hans Christian Andersen." As Trevor Premer of SWNCTA points out, kids gain a lot more than recognition by taking part in a production.

"Creativity, social skills, goal achievement, communication skills and self-esteem are all characteristics that are attained through the participation in this unique educational project," according to a news release.

If any of us have any doubts about the value of theater, ask the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, which recently received another $5 million from the estate of Johnny Carson for endowed support of programs in theater, film and broadcasting.

That brings Carson's gifts to more than $11 million.

Part of that total will go for renovation and expansion of the Temple Building at UNL, home to the theater program where Carson studied.

"I got my start in the Temple Building, and have never forgotten the impact of my academic studies at the University of Nebraska on my life and career," Carson said two months before his death. "It is my hope that this gift will enable future generations of theater and film students to learn their craft ... which will enable them to pursue their goals, just as I did."

Did he ever.

Those of us who grew up pushing our bedtimes to the limit just to catch Johnny's monologue can scarcely believe he is gone. He turned his wit, dry as a Nebraska summer and sharp as January on the Golden Plains, into an international institution.

Who knows; perhaps the next Johnny Carson -- or Dick Cavett, Ward Bond or Henry Fonda -- will be on the McCook High School stage a week from Saturday.