Camden Hills Regional High School is celebrating 25 years of productions on the stage of the Strom Auditorium. Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka, a musical featuring students in grades 5 – 12 from all five towns, will kick off the celebrations with productions on May 8, 9 and 10.

Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka follows enigmatic candy manufacturer, Willy Wonka (Lindsey Clifford), as he stages a contest by hiding golden tickets in five of his scrumptious candy bars. Whomever comes up with these tickets will win a free tour of the Wonka factory, as well as a lifetime supply of candy. 

The local children all hope to buy a winning candy bar from the Candy Man (Sam Wellman) as he makes his rounds through town.  Phineous Trout (Maeve Schick-McPherson) and his cameraman (Fisher Thomas) interview the Golden Ticket winners.  Four of the five winning children (played by Daniel Hafford, Anaëlle Dodge, Maggie Feeney, and Desmond Henderson) are insufferable brats: the fifth is a likeable young lad named Charlie Bucket (Emma Killough), who takes the tour in the company of his equally amiable grandfather (Malcolm Joseph). The children, accompanied by their parents (Annie Costello, Aaron Rousseau, Violet Price, and Abigail Kohlstrom) must learn to follow Mr. Wonka's rules in the factory... or suffer the consequences.  

When Charlie wins the final Golden Ticket, Mr. Bucket (Ray Beach), Mrs. Bucket (Katie Kunkel) and the grandparents (Hannah Olanrewaju, Kylli Gronros, and Lydia Day) all have high hopes for Charlie and Grandpa Joe as they begin their tour of the factory.  The mysterious factory workers, the Oompa Loompas (Ensemble) work in every factory room and sing about the Golden Ticket Winners.  The ensemble members also play a variety of roles ranging from Charlie’s friends, to a chorus of Cooks, to a collection of Squirrels.

The show is directed by Kim Murphy, Kailey Smith, and Tom Heath with musical accompaniment by joani mitchell, Doug Kennedy, and Hailey Levangie.  The costumes are designed by Heidi Kopishke, choreography by Gretchen Henderson and Camden Contakos, and produced by Jane Self.  Student director AJ Collins will be joined by many technical assistants: Wylie Hixson, Maggie O’Brien, Quin Smith, Natalie Clark, and Isabel Pease-Fontaine as they work together to put on a stellar show.  Mark your calendars for Thursday, May 8, and Friday, May 9, at 6:30 p.m. with a special family show on Saturday, May 10 at 3 p.m. Tickets may be purchased by visiting http://stromtix.com. For more information, call 207.230.1660 or email tickets@fivetowns.net.