Local Knowledge: The Little Red Truck
The Missoula Children’s Theatre through the filmmakers’ lens
Jim Caron and Don Collins in 1970 when they decided to drop anchor on their wanderings and set up a theatre company in Missoula.
photos courtesy Tree and Sky Media Arts, Missoula Children‘s Theatre
The Little Red Truck filmmakers Pam Voth and Rob Whitehair with their dog, Satchmo.
photos courtesy Tree and Sky Media Arts, Missoula Children‘s Theatre
The little red trucks travel from town to town bringing the magic of Missoula Children‘s Theatre to 1,200 communities each year.
photos courtesy Tree and Sky Media Arts, Missoula Children‘s Theatre
Everyone’s favorite rooster gets into makeup. photos courtesy Tree and Sky Media Arts, Missoula Children‘s Theatre
In Somerton, Ariz., Jose plays the part of Bobby Jo and gets
a big laugh every time he purposely sings off key. photo courtesy Tree and Sky Media Arts
Students in St. Joseph perform the barnyard symphony. photo courtesy Tree and Sky Media Arts
A young cast member in Hollywood auditions for a role in Little Mermaid. photo courtesy Tree and Sky Media Arts
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“We were always wondering ‘what are those trucks?’”
Voth and Whitehair have a long history in documentary filmmaking, but that history is largely in wildlife films, Whitehair said.
The couple’s passion and focus has always been related to the outdoors. Whitehair is a wildlife biologist. His previous documentary for National Geographic focused on the San Joaquin Kit Foxes in California.
Voth was a marketing specialist who gave up a promising career as an executive to pursue wildlife photography.
When Whitehair asked a friend who worked at Missoula Children’s Theatre about the company, the story he heard captivated him.
Each truck carries two tour directors and all the equipment necessary to produce a quality play in five days — from scripts and sets, to makeup and costumes — it’s all under the topper and in the bed of the little red Ford Rangers.
The trucks travel to towns all around North America, large and small, to bring kids a world many have never experienced and one most will only experience once — theatre.
Missoula Children’s Theatre began in 1970 when Jim Caron and Don Collins decided to drop anchor on their wanderings and set up a theatre company in Missoula.
“We knew nothing about children’s theatre, but it seemed like everything else was being done,” Caron said.
  
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