Steinbach Christian School performs first middle years musical

Steinbach Christian School’s middle years students will perform their first ever musical this weekend.

Titled The Most Epic Birthday Party Ever, the musical will run on Jan. 30 and 31, with both shows starting at 7 p.m. in the school’s chapel.

Kristy Penner, the musical’s director, spent hours searching for the perfect show for the school’s first attempt at performing a musical.

“I was looking for a fun, but simple show. Something with minimal costumes and simple set design, but with good music and a script I liked,” she told The Carillon in an email.

The musical follows a 12-year-old character named Skyler who plans a birthday party but all of the adults disappear, leaving the children to create a new society and select a new ruler.

Penner said the musical was announced in September 2025 and 58 kids auditioned for the 29 available roles.

“The kids are excited. There are some nerves. This is the first exposure to theatre a lot of these kids have had, so it’s been a fun learning process,” Penner said.

Principal Thor Barkman said the school’s goal is to offer opportunities to develop their interests and develop new skills. He said running a musical was the next step to achieve those goals.

“We have a strong tradition of performing arts at SCS. Adding a production at the middle years level is a way of utilizing the musical talent we’ve developed,” he said in a email statement.

The school surveyed parents last year to see if they’d be interested in having a musical and there was wide-spread support, Barkman said. He was still caught off guard by the student interest when work began on the musical.

“When auditions rolled around, we had a remarkable turnout and wished we could run multiple productions,” he said.

Barkman hopes to see the program continue and grow.

Tickets cost $10 and can be purchased at steinbachchristian.ca/middle-years-musical.