Albion High School drama performing Captain Louie

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Ella Trupo plays the lead role of Captain Louie in the high school drama department’s production of Captain Louie Jr. The first show was Friday. There are performances today at noon and 7 p.m. in the middle school auditorium. Tickets are $5 at the door.

In the show, Louie is lonely after his family moved to a new neighborhood. He plays with a toy airplane he calls Red. Here, Trupo is singing, “Big Red Plane.”

The show is the directing debut in Albion for Kailey Winans, a third grade special education teacher, and Elliott Michki, the high school chorus teacher. Kailey’s mother, Kathy Winans, also is a co-director for the show. She has been helping to lead the production for more than three decades.

Kailey Winans said the show sends a message about welcoming change.

“We should be open to new opportunities,” Winans said. “Change can be hard but we should embrace it because you never know what is on the other side of that change.”

Louie gets transported to his old neighborhood, but finds none of his friends are there. Instead he is met by a sinister gang, including a flower (Mallory Kozody), a mouse (Mallory Ashbery), a broom (Danielle Wyant) and a cat (Neveya Barnes).

Louie eventually realizes the characters are his old friends in Halloween costumes.

Alexis Hand is the “Monster” and Zackary Baron plays the role of Jack, who is dressed as a baseball.