Missoula County 4-H: 69TH ANNUAL 4-H DRAMA FESTIVAL A HUGE SUCCESS!

On April 11th, the 69th Annual Missoula 4-H Drama Festival was held in Potomac, MT, at the Potomac-Greenough Community Center. The Potomac Valley 4-H Club hosted the event, sold concessions and ran the pie auction. The judges, all UM students with varying degrees of theater arts backgrounds, did a great job and were all really excited to see the young talent we have in Missoula 4-H.

Below is a history of the Drama Festival, and a listing of the awards from this year's festival. I'll post more photos as I receive them. -CB

(Sorry about the photo. New camera is junk - being replaced very soon). -cb

DRAMA FESTIVAL HISTORY

The Missoula County 4-H Drama Festival was the brainchild of county agent Tony Rollin. It may be the only one of its kind in the United States. Tony, when asked why he was so interested in the Drama Festival, once said he was raised in an orphanage in Minnesota. At the orphanage they had a program of putting plays together and presenting them, which in Tony’s mind helped him build the confidence he would need later in life.

The first Drama Festival was organized in 1947. The plays were all conducted at the Orchard Homes Country Life Club. The name of the winning play that year was “The Blue Teapot” and was by the Orchard Homes 4-H Club. As interest in the Drama Festival increased, more clubs got involved. Up to 16 plays would be in the festival at its peak. They were evening events on consecutive nights, and the top few plays competed in the finals for the coveted county awards.

Due to Tony’s instigation, the Kiwanis Club sponsored the awards and usually the winning plays were invited to a Kiwanis luncheon and sometimes even performed at the luncheon.

At the Finals, a community leader served as the Master of Ceremonies. Charlie Deschamps’ dad, Por Deschamps, a state senator and fair Beef Superintendent, was one of the MC’s for a number of years.