Local Knowledge: The Little Red Truck

“So we’re able to come in and say ‘Of course you can do this. Why wouldn’t you?’ because we don’t know any different,” she said. “And then they can and then it shows those teachers and the families and everybody that they can do it.

“They may never be in a play again. They may never take an art class ever again, but they will always have that. They will always have that moment where they were able — they, not us, not the tour team, not the parents, not the teachers — to get on stage and step out of that world they’re always in and be successful.”

In the midst of the madness of producing a play in five days, Voth and Whitehair capture the importance of each production’s unique sub-plots: The 5-year-old who is scared to be a barnyard rooster because he looks funny in the costume, but knows if he doesn’t step up, he’s going to get a spanking. Or the 13-year-old former gang member who has grown up too fast on the streets and used to think theatre was dumb until he gave it a shot and now has a leading role. Or the blind girl who can’t read her lines, but whose personality led the directors to cast her as Maid Marian and who surprised everyone by memorizing not only her lines, but nearly the entire play.

These storylines just appeared, Whitehair said. It was merely a product of being around for everything.

In many ways shooting this film was like filming wildlife, Whitehair said. “With wildlife you make no eye contact and with kids you have to do the same thing because when you make eye contact you engage them and they pay attention to you.”

In the end the 98-minute film has gained a wide audience and notoriety. The documentary was released at the 2008 Big Sky Film Festival in Missoula. It won best feature film at the International Family Film Festival in California. It was shown at the San Luis Obispo Film Festival, the Spudfest in Driggs, Idaho and the Maine International Film Festival.

Reflecting on the film, Whitehair makes a point to say he learned something about himself, too.

Filming wildlife leaves one with a sense of doom about the world, because so often the species being filmed are in some sort of peril from man’s actions.

“You kind of have a tendency to lose faith in humanity,” he said. “This film just really brought back my faith in humanity.”

It was seeing the innocence in the children who came to perform in the plays. It was seeing the dedication of the MCT tour directors. It was seeing how the simple act of believing in someone could make all the difference.

“You never tell kids you can’t do it,” Whitehair said. “Everybody can do it and they go out and prove it every day.”

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Editor’s Note: The Little Red Truck opened nationwide in September. Scheduled cities include New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Las Vegas, San Francisco and Atlanta. For more dates and locations visit www.thelittleredtruck.com.

Greg Lemon is a natural resources and political journalist in western Montana. He recently penned a biography on Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer, titled Blue Man in a Red State: Montana’s Governor Brian Schweitzer and the New Western Populism.