Whiskey and robbery in Saco ... just playing

With in-school learning shutdown across the state of Montana, so too were the Missoula Children's Theatre's remaining performances for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year, and some young thespians in Saco were disappointed by that fact so their grandmother came up with a fun alternative.

"Bandit Joaquin & Ricochet" was a three-act, 20 minute play penned by Saco's Lexie Haynes which featured several of her grandchildren cast in a bank robbery story performed for family and friends while the people of Phillips County deal with social distancing due to the COVID-19 virus.

The cast of the "Bandit Joaquin & Ricochet" were Royce Strobbe, 10, Rowdy Beil, 5, Ridge Beil, 3, Blake Ozark, 12, and Wit Ozark, 5.

"They practiced for about a week and they were pretty dang funny," Director Haynes said.

The play lasted for about 20 minutes over three acts and just the one performance and the audience consisted of Grandma and Grandpa Ozark, Pat Murdock, Director Haynes' mother, Billy Ozark, Jason, and Lacey Beil, Kirsten and Aaron Albus, and a few other lucky spectators.

"The girls and I made all the props and sets," Director Haynes said. "It was fun."

Haynes said that the props and set took about a week to make. A saloon name was carved with a router on a piece of wood, a jail was formed out of a wooden bed frame, and a bank tellers booth was created and set up in the family shop, and everything was placed on a stage comprised of pallets covered with plywood and the backdrop was a big tarp.

"It was pretty crazy," Haynes laughed. "The kids did a really good job, but they want to do it again one more time because a couple of the kids want another crack at their lines. It was lots of laughs."

A highlight from the play was a bar scene in which a few of the children drank whiskey (cola out of a whiskey bottle, of course) and the favorite catchphrase of the night was "more whiskey, please."

Royce, a fourth-grader who played the part of a fish in Alice in Wonderland a few years ago, played the banker and the saloonkeeper in "Bandit Joaquin & Ricochet" and said her favorite part of the play was when she helped put the bandits in jail, then went and had a drink at the bar before getting on her steed and riding off into the sunset.

Rowdy, 5, said she had a dress as a costume, pink to be exact, and wearing that was her favorite part of the play.

Ridge, 3, said his favorite part of the play was "stealing the money." He was a bandit, if you hadn't guessed.

Blake's last play appearance before portraying the sheriff in "Bandit Joaquin & Ricochet" was as one of three Alices in Alice in Wonderland at Saco Public Schools. Blake said she has no previous law enforcement experience, admitted she doesn't want to pursue a career in the field but said being the sheriff in "Bandit Joaquin & Ricochet" was fairly phenomenal.

"It was fun," she said. "It was fun to be with all my cousins and the rehearsals went well. It sounded like a good idea and we had fun doing it and I wouldn't mind doing it again."

Wit said he'd rather not talk to the media being that he was a robber in the play.

"It was fun locking him up," Blake said of her little brother.

Rumor has it there might be some recordings of the play out there so keep a lookout.