School play puts colourful costumes and daring-do in the spotlight

If it’s true that a successful superhero script is only as epic as its arch villain, Nakasuk School has a hit with Adventures of a Comic Book Artist.

Nunatsiaq News dropped by the Iqaluit school to catch part of a daylong dress rehearsal and meet with the cast on Saturday morning, ahead of this week’s debut.

Gwyneth Kownirk-MacIntosh plays the dynamic but dastardly Doctor Shock Clock, whose power is to stop time with a campy snap of her fingers.

Gwyneth Kownirk-MacIntosh, centre, plays arch-villain Doctor Shock Clock in Nakasuk School’s production of “Adventures of a Comic Book Artist.” She is flanked by “Minutos” Malaiya Pierce, left, and Eemalie Letkeman-Holst. (Photo by Daron Letts)

“In the play, but not in real life,” clarified Eemalie Letkeman-Holst of Kownirk-MacIntosh’s powers.

Letkeman-Holst plays one of Doctor Shock Clock’s doting henchmen, alongside Malaiya Pierce.

“I call them Minutos,” Kownirk-MacIntosh said, as she introduced Letkeman-Holst and Pierce with a melodramatic swoop of her purple cape.

In the play, the trio of terrible tricksters embark on a New York crime spree.

“But then at the end, I get defeated — at Scene 9,” Kownirk-MacIntosh lamented, before advocating for a last-minute tweak to the script.

With deadpan sincerity, she said: “Always the villain has to go, but I think once a villain has to stay.”

Letkeman-Holst and Pierce concurred with enthusiastic head nods.

On the other side of the stage are the heroes in the play — a colourful coterie of powerful protagonists who vie to vanquish villainy, according to script.

Student actors Onameye Amponsah Agyemang, left, Faye Montpetit, and Brea Killulark each play multiple roles in the musical “Adventures of a Comic Book Artist.” (Photo by Daron Letts)

They include Wombat Woman, played by Cadence Pynn; Blossom, played by Ashley Young; Star Guy, played by Angelo Udokang; and Triple Time, played by Hugo Lessard-Michielsen.

“[The musical] is fun and exciting to watch,” said Young, whose handmade custom costume is a wearable garden of lush greenery and flowers.

Ella O’Dell, who plays the mild-mannered janitor of a comic book factory, said this year’s musical is a must-see event.

“[The public] should come because our play is really good every year,” she said.

The musical features a 19-member cast made up of students in grades 3 to 5 with a 60-member choir of students in grades 1 to 5. Another 15 students serve as set designers and tech crew.

“The kids have been working on this since October to put it all together and we’re very excited for the community to see it,” said Kelly Esford, a Grade 5 teacher and director of the play.

The musical runs at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at Nakasuk Elementary School.

Admission is free and doors open at 6 p.m.