The Castle With a Thousand Lights

Written by Sam Myers
Directed by Michael Legg
Assistant Director Jacob Christiansen
Assistant Director Emma Swartz
Stage Manager Iris Jandreau
Scenic Design by Jesse Dreikosen
Lighting & Sound Design by Abbey Mosely
Costume & Puppet Design by Lara Berich
Animation by David Mattson & Paige Childers

Featuring David Miller and Rikky Johnson

Produced by Montana Repertory Theatre

Zootown Arts Community Center, Missoula, MT, followed by a statewide tour (March 2022)

Excerpts from a feature by Cory Walsh in the Missoulian:

“I thought it would make sense to write a play that spoke to the specific community who would be seeing it,” Myers said. Having grown up in Wyoming, he was aware of the class inequality and rising housing stresses in small mountain towns and “started thinking about a way into it that would be entertaining and fun.”

The plot centers on two friends, Toby and Melissa, who’ve been hanging out since fourth grade. Now in high school, tensions have arisen — Toby’s family is better off than Melissa’s. To try to bridge thus-far unspoken fracturing, Toby decides to tell her a story using puppets, a thing they used to do when they were younger. Melissa participates, and begins bending the story to address what’s on her mind — the financial pressures that gentrification in their small mountain town have created for her and her family.”