Mr. Smith goes to Jamestown

Youth theater to debut ‘Pocahontas’

By Rob Cullivan

The Sandy Post, Nov 24, 2009

Contributed photo

From left, Ethan Morrow as Chief Powhatan, Ben Wright as Keokum, Emily Wright as Pocahontas and Mitchell Booth as Capt. John Smith in the Christian Youth Theater's production of ‘The Legend of Pocahontas.’ The musical runs through Dec. 5 at Mt. Hood Community College.

If you want to develop a headache of historical proportions, try figuring out just how much of the Pocahontas story is true.

A cursory perusal of historical sources note the famed Virginia Powhatan girl may or may not have saved English Capt. John Smith from execution, and may or may not have truly loved her eventual English husband, John Rolfe. And from there it only gets more confusing.

However, one thing is indisputable – Christian Youth Theater will debut “The Legend of Pocahontas” this Friday, Nov. 27, at Mt. Hood Community College.

Director Anne Dunlop notes this musical version of the Pocahontas tale is more historically accurate than the 1995 Disney movie “Pocahontas,” which, to put it gently, wasn’t. Nonetheless, the movie’s massive success points to how deeply the legend resonates in American culture.

“Here was a woman who made some choices in her life and stepped out of the bounds of her tribe, and we’re here 350 years later still telling her story,” Dunlop says, adding the production is taking a 60-member cast and crew to produce. Christian Youth Theater draws its members from areas including Portland, Vancouver, Gresham, Sandy, Boring, Corbett and Happy Valley.

Captain Smith

Mitchell Booth, 13, an eighth-grader at Good Shepherd School in Boring, plays Captain Smith, and notes this is his first lead role in six productions with Christian Youth Theater.

“It’s just a really good character,” Mitchell says. “He has to be kind of assertive, and he also has to be kind of gentle at the same time.”

It’s not easy balancing the two sides of Smith, Mitchell adds.

“You just have to keep reading through the lines,” he says. “It just kind of becomes a second person for you.”

He also says the musical is pushing him to sing and dance as he’s never done before.

“It kind of takes you out of your comfort zone so you can explore what you can do,” Mitchell says. “There’s a lot of high notes and some pretty complex stuff.”

John Rolfe

Sam Suminski, 17, a senior at Barlow High School, says he’s had to learn one thing in order to play Rolfe – chill out.

“It’s a stretch for me because the character is so not me,” Sam says. “He’s more quiet and laid back, and I’m more outgoing.

“It’s one of the hardest characters I’ve had to play, so it’s fun to see what I can do with it when I get into the character,” he says.

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