Celebrate the season with MPower Voices

There is no entry fee.

Please consider a donation—your gift helps with scholarships for our performers, rehearsal and performance venue rentals, and community outreach.

The Missoula Community Chorus will sing holiday favorites for the “Tree Lighting with Santa”.

Find out about all the other events during the day: https://www.missouladowntown.com/holidays-on-higgins/

Join us on Wednesday, May 15!

Come to the Silent Auction before the show—6 pm in the Missoula Children Theatre Foyer. Refreshments will be served.

Admission is free and donations are much appreciated.

Synopsis

Kody the Kodiak Bear feels sad as the seasons change and the long nights of winter descend upon his arctic home.  Fortunately, he meets Bobbi the Blue Footed Boobie who has been blown off course from the Galapagos Islands.  She tells Kody about her home at the equator where the days never get shorter.  They decide to take a journey.  Rather than go on foot as their friends the caribou suggest, they find a school bus and gather up more friends to come along.  When pulled over by the police, they are informed that they cannot drive to an island. But they don’t despair, they are introduced to Sergeant Marge and her large garbage barge.  Sadly they get stuck in their bus on the  barge in the great garbage patch. But Don Basura, a dealer of detritus, for a small fee offers them a way to escape. With the help of Pat the whale and the pirate crabs they inflate a crashed spy balloon and float up into the clouds. An in-flight meal delivered by Pelican Pizza is served before they arrive at their destination. After many weeks of enjoying sunshine every day and playing on the beach everyday and the sun setting at the same time every day, Kody becomes restless with equatorial equanimity. He glimpses the north star on the far horizon and a longing for his home in the north awakens within him. 

Director’s notes

              The Sunshine Bear is based on the fascinations and fixations of Dick Swanson who has been part of the group since its founding in 1998.  Alayne Dolson and I sat with Dick in June of 2023  and took some notes on the things that he thinks about and the things that make him happy.  Sunshine makes him happy. He’s fixated on the length of days, he’s fascinated by minor keys and how they express sadness, his favorite thing to wear is a swimsuit, and his favorite food is pizza.  He’s never had - but always wanted - a driver’s license. He’s always dreamed of driving a school bus and he loves policemen. With those anchor points I began to write a show. 

               It is both rewarding and challenging to write for the specific abilities and limitations of the members of our crew. It must be fun and inclusive for the singers, but we must tell a story that can be understood by the audience. The songs are repetitive both for ease of memorization and to give a few passes at intelligibility. A single voice often introduces the lyric echoed by the choir. Mobility issues limit how much staging we can achieve, and limited rehearsal time means complex dialog is unachievable.  For The Sunshine Bear I have chosen to have a narrator advance the story for the audience.  We have tried to give everyone who wants it some sort of solo or feature. 

             We have worked hard to create a safe space where we all check our ego at the door. We celebrate the fundamental why of making art: it feels good and it unites us to express feelings together.  We can do things, say things, write things, express ourselves just for the love of it without the notion that critics will be evaluating it. If we do it right, the audience experiences an expression inexplicably greater than the sum of its parts. 

Join us for an evening of joy and song.

Admission is free. Donations are appreciated!

Come experience Alice in Wonderland! An all-abilities musical adaptation of a classic tale.  Share Alice’s bewilderment as she and the White Rabbit encounter the cranky Queen of Hearts, the colorful Caterpillar, a Walrus, Gryphon, Mock Turtle and more.  With the help of Missoula Children’s Theater, the touring show has been adapted with new songs and a script revised to highlight the abilities of the artists of MPower Voices.  One night only.  May 22nd at MCT. 6:00 silent auction, 7:00 curtain. 

Monday, December 19 // Door at 6:30 PM // Show at 7 PM // Free & Open to All

Join MPower Voices at the ZACC for a free and festive holiday choir concert! MPower voices is a Missoula-based choir of adult individuals with disabilities. Formed in 1999 by Alayne Dolson and Malcolm Lowe, the choir was originally part of VSA Arts programming. It continues now under the umbrella of Missoula Community Chorus. MPower Voices serves the differently-abled community by offering an opportunity for social engagement and artistic expression. They serve Missoula with musical offerings that surprise and delight with their heartfelt, open manifestations of joy. MPower Voices is thrilled to be welcomed to the more focused performance setting of The Show Room at the ZACC.

For further information, accessibility, and inquiries please visit https://www.zootownarts.org/meet-the-zacc/about/

For the first time ever, MCC's new Missoula FORTE Children's Choirs will be joining us on stage for their debut performance!

What's better than one day of Halloween? Haunting a day early at the Halloween Choral Spooktacular! We've got spooky music and trick-or-treating the day BEFORE Halloween! Songs of shipwrecks and ghosts, crews lost at sea, monsters, Autumn leaves, October love, and more will take your (last) breath away. This frighteningly beautiful choral sound will delight your spirits, giving way to trick-or-treating onstage with live music! Wear your costume- if you dare! Come for the choirs; stay for the candy!

FREE admission (and candy!) for kids under 18, UM students, and the Undead.
TICKETS HERE (through GrizTix) or available at the Door.
A livestream link will be available with each purchase. Access this link through your Email Confirmation you recieve after purchase. If you do not receive this email after 24 hours, please contact the Box Office at griztix@umontana.edu or at (406) 243-4051 to receive your link.