Decatur Children’s Theatre Returns For 40th Annual Production

BERLIN – Students at Stephen Decatur High School will celebrate four decades of enchanting local children from the stage with this year’s rendition of Fantastic Mr. Fox.

On Dec. 1, students kicked off the 40th Annual Stephen Decatur High School Children’s Theatre with Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. In the coming days, the show is expected to draw more than 9,000 elementary school children from all over the Eastern Shore to Decatur’s auditorium. As always, this year’s Children’s Theatre production was designed with them in mind.

“The set is gorgeous, the songs are lively, the action is silly,” said drama teacher Brandon Cater.

Cater, who took over the drama department last year after the retirement of Decatur’s renowned Gwen Lehman, said a Washington D.C.-area show inspired him to do something a bit different with this year’s performance. So instead of the usual adaption of a well-known fairy tale, Cater opted to have his students perform the Dahl story while incorporating the use of large scale puppets. To further differentiate the production, he engaged the help of fellow Decatur graduate Brendan McGeehan do develop original music for the play.

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