The play will be dramatized and directed by Steve Hays, based on the classic story, “A Little Princess” published in 1905 by Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of “The Secret Garden.”
From left, Mat Bussler of South Hadley as Captain Crewe, Carlie Daggett of East Longmeadow as Sara Crewe and
Sonja Funk of Springfield as Miss Minchin in "Sara Crewe: A Little Princess."
Thirteen-year-old Carlie Daggett plays Sara in “Sara Crewe: A Little Princess,” a production of the Drama Studio, and she brings to the role an ability to handle her character’s range of emotions.
The production centers on 11-year-old Sara, who was raised in a privileged British household in colonial India. She is unprepared for enrollment in an exclusive London girls’ finishing school, and when her father dies impoverished as a result of bad investments, she becomes a servant to the headmistress and is banished to a bare attic bedroom; but Sara eventually prevails.
The play will be dramatized and directed by Steve Hays, based on the classic story, “A Little Princess” published in 1905 by Frances Hodgson Burnett, author of “The Secret Garden.”
Carlie, an East Longmeadow eighth grader who had small roles in the Drama Studio’s productions of “The Snow Queen” and “Peter Pan,” can, as Sara, “handle the power of the piece,” Hays said. Sara stands up for herself in the face of the cruel headmistress, is filled with emotion as she and her father part and is compassionate as she takes two unhappy girls under her wing.
Carlie is in her fourth year at the Drama Studio.
The “Princess” production, Hays said, has a wide emotional range from humorous to deep. “It’s a story about a courageous young girl who uses her own resources and imagination to survive, and she does survive.”
Returning for a second year, the Drama Studio, a not-for-profit educational organization, will bring more than 50 of its students and alumni to perform and produce in the 469-seat Blake Theatre at CityStage.
Now in its 26th year, the Drama Studio provides a conservatory-style acting training program for young people in the Pioneer Valley region. Currently more than 200 students participate in weekly theatre classes. The studio provides year-round training and produces more than 120 performances each year, either in its black box theatre or on tour.
Performances of “Sara Crewe: A Little Princess” are Friday, Dec. 7, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Dec. 8, at 4 and 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, Dec. 9 at 3 and 6:30 p.m. There will be a performance for local public schools on Monday, Dec. 10.
Tickets are $14-$22 and available through the CityStage Box Office (413) 788-7033.