Lakeway Christian Academy to present “Treasure Island”

“I don’t think people realize how influential this story and the character Long John Slivers is to other pirate adventure tales. Almost all pirate adventure narratives take something from Treasure Island. Including the iconic Jack Sparrow, but also Han Solo from Star Wars reflect the character of Long John Silvers. That question of is he a bad guy or will he do what is right and save the day in the end.”

However this production of Treasure Island is slightly different than the 1883 original tale.

The story of Long John Silver and his pirate crew spill from the spirited imagination of a young girl. Emily dreams of being a pirate, although wanting to be a businesswoman would be more sensible.

Her dream comes to life in this version of Stevenson’s classic tale, where she is Jim Hawkins in the story of wicked pirates, good old English pluck and buried treasure.

“The main characters follows Emily a young girl in modern day who wants to be a pirate,” he said.

We follow the story of Treasure Island through her eyes and she becomes the character we know as Jim.”

Morelock explained how this new twist effects the overall production of the show.

“It’s told from a child’s perspective so it’s very playful and silly,” Morelock said. “The costumes are cheap pirate costumes, the guns that are used in the book are Nerf guns and the swords they use are foam swords to give the story that childlike perspective.”

This production also takes on a modern approach to the story.

“There’s a mixture of modern stuff and thing you would see during that period,” Morelock said. “The playwright did an amazing job at taking a source and keeping the story and characters intact but reinventing it for a modern audience that adults but also young children would enjoy.”

Although, there are a few changes the storyline of remains true to the original 1883 classic.

“The entire story remains intact,” he said. “If you are familiar with the story of Treasure Island then it is pretty much an exact copy.”

“Although the story is exactly the same, the way it is told is different and hilarious. If you know Treasure Island you don’t know it exactly like this.”

Morelock explained the comedic style on this take on Treasure Island.

“This particular productions is a comedy,” he said. It’s a lot of high energy and high fun and just a comedic romp through the classic Stevenson story. People can expect to be entertained and to laugh.”

“It’s a combination of the script but we also have some funny students who have a natural ability with humor and improvisation This show’s wow factor isn’t based off of any major production elements, the wow factor is these students’ amazing performance.”

Morelock discussed what went into creating the stage play about "buccaneers and buried gold.”

“We have worked for ten weeks to prepare for this production,” he said “We cast the show in December and started in January and they worked four days a week rehearsing the show.”

He explained how casting for this production was different than previous shows.

“When I cast a show I usually cast for specific characters, but with this show I casted an ensemble first,” he said.

“I looked for a group of actors of who could really feed off of each other, who had a good energy and chemistry as an entire ensemble and that could work with improve really well. After I cast the ensemble as they began to work together then I started casting for specific characters.”

The set for this imaginative story will take the audience on a journey, visiting three different locations.

“The story is imaginative and the stage is presentational,” he said. “It’s a unit set that becomes three different locations throughout the play.”

“There is a lot physical, situational and improve comedy,” he said. “It should feel, as you’re watching it, less scripted than it is a play.”

Morelock encourages people of all ages to see a showing of this LCA’s production of Treasure Island.

“It’s a very clean production that is safe and enjoyable for all ages,” he said. “Families should come out to have a few laughs and enjoy this play.”

Public shows begin March 30th and continue through the evening of April 1st. Tickets for all shows and seating levels are available for purchase on the school’s website.