(7-16-25) Darke County Center for the Arts will present two performances of Missoula Children’s Theatre‘s production of The Jungle Book starring local students at Henry St. Clair Memorial Hall on Saturday, July 19; the matinee starts at 3 p.m. and the evening show begins at 7 p.m. The classic tale of Mowgli the man-cub and his adventures will be given the magical MCT treatment, with original music and rollicking humor bringing new life to the classic Rudyard Kipling tale.

Following being cast during auditions on Monday, July 14, the first- through twelfth-grade students attend intense rehearsals where in one short week they learn lines, music, and choreography to create a fully realized musical theatre presentation that will charm adults and delight youngsters. Orin Hardt won the role of Mowgli the man-cub; Young Mowgli will be acted by Eli Westfall. Bagheera the panther will be played by Aellia Hardt, while Molly Krans is Akela, Leader of the Pack; Jenessa Bowman, Emily Clark, Isabel Costa, Marianna Costa, Joleen Dedloff, Riker Haas, Jameson Hardt, Honor Layman, Eden McWain, Madalyn Pease, Joshua Vermillion, and Piper Widener make up the entire wolfpack. Father Wolf and Mother Wolf will be acted by Simon Pratt and Arabella Pierce. Leila Gordon, Hamilton Greve, Layla Holsapple, Iris Knight, Eden Lamin, and Christopher Snyder are the Wolf Pups.

Dakoda Pratt is featured as Shere Khan; his sidekick Tabaqui the jackal will be played by Eva Kramer. Henry Dynes and Rylie McManan were cast as cobras Nag and Nagaina; Aria Dolinskiwill play Darzee the bird; featured as Hathi the master elephant is Eva Pratt, and Afton Knight performs the role of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, the mongoose. Other featured performers include Ben Chris, Bing Cunningham, Megan Fett, Jack Gordon, Daphner Haas, Harper Koerner, Bexlley Koval, Isabella Shane, Evey Thomas, Jasmine Vermillion, Raymond Vittito, Lucy Wieganas as Kaa, the Multi-faceted rock-python and Kaia Krickenbarger as Buck. The Bander-log who monkey around throughout the entire show will be Ava Clark, Hazel Deregnacourt, Gage Davidson, Calvin Gordon, Eileen Hardt, Amelia Hebner, Bennett Robinson, Caroline Wooten, Kate Surber, Josie Teague, and Caia Widener, 

Quinn Hardt, Josie Holsapple, Teagan Riggs, and Sam Clark will serve as Assistant Directors for the production throughout the week. Tour Actor/Director Pablo Fullbrook takes on the pivotal role of Baloo, the sloth bear; fellow MCT team member C. Alex Webster is directing the show. Accompanist for The Jungle Book is Darrell Fryman.

DCCA received funding from Darke County Endowment for the Arts which helped make possible this residency by Missoula Children’s Theatre. Additionally, the Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.  DCCA also receives funding from Harry D. and Esther Stephens Memorial, Ketrow Foundation and Lydia E. Schaurer Memorial Trust Fund, as well as DCCA memberships.

Tickets for MCT’s The Jungle Book are $5, and will be available at the door prior to the performances. For more information, visit DCCA’s Website at www.darkecountyarts.com or contact DCCA at 937-547-0908.