ARVIAT - The John Arnalukjuak High School drama and music students hit the stage for a rousing production of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in Arviat this past month.

Peter Aliktiluk had things his way as head elf, Bossy Bill, during a production of Rudolph the RedNosed Reindeer in Arviat this past month. - photo courtesy of Gord Billard

A total of 29 students made up the cast, while another 15 students and adults helped out with the stage, lighting, costumes and makeup.

The group did three shows on Dec. 15, performing for elementary students in the morning, middle and senior students in the afternoon, and the public in the evening.

The evening performance drew a crowd of about 250.

Director Gord Billard said the audiences really seemed to enjoy the show.

He said this year's production was aimed at the community's younger crowd.

"We went into this focused on doing a show primarily for the kids in the community, so we really went for the funny bone and most of the kids seemed to enjoy the overall brightness of the production," said Billard.

"There's a couple of scenes where the abominable snowman gets attacked by the hero, Peppermint Pete, and pelted with sugar balls and sugar cubes (marshmallows).

"So, we gave marshmallows to the kids in the first two rows and told them to be ready to help Pete defeat the snowman when the time came.

"They got so into it at the evening show that some of them ran up onto the stage to get their marshmallows back so they could throw them again, so we had to tell them to relax a bit so we could move on."

Billard hopes to organize two more shows before the end of the school year, including one at the classroom level with a number of English students who are studying Romeo and Juliet this year.

He's also looking at two different scripts for a production that would address the issue of suicide.

Billard said one script is harsher than the other in that it has rough language and deals with volatile situations involving sex, drugs, alcohol and relationships.

He said the other centres on a person who finds a suicide note in his mailbox, and spends the rest of the play trying to figure out who sent it to him.

"A lot of my drama students want to do something about suicide and feel this is one way to get others to talk about it, rather than keep it in the backroom as we tend to do sometimes because it's such a sensitive topic.

"We tend to have one or two suicides a year here, and it's a difficult issue for people to deal with. We're forced to deal with it on a regular basis in the North and it's never easy.

"Our aim is to get people talking about suicide, so those affected by it have the chance to express their feelings and, maybe, even help them with the healing process."

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