When Montgomery County Middle School sixth-graders Ryleigh Moore and Haley Engleman were the first people to sign up to participate in the school play, “The Mystery of the Missing Medallion,” in August, they were determined to make the event a successful one.

“We would call each other almost every night and work on it,” Moore said. “We worked really hard.”

On March 30, Moore and Engleman were among numerous students who got a big round of applause from the audience after performing the 25-minute play at the multipurpose room in MCMS.

“They’ve been working on this play all year,” MCMS Principal Kala Buck said. “In most weeks, they would stay after school one or two nights a week to try to get ready for this. So they put in a lot of hard work and dedication to this.”

Erin Resimius, a sixth-grader math teacher at MCMS, was the play’s director. She didn’t attend because she recently gave birth to a child.

“I believe in college, she was part of drama,” Buck said. “She has a minor in drama. So she put in a lot of work. We were hoping that she could make it to the end, but baby Resimius decided to come a little bit early. Unfortunately, she was not able to join us. So we video recorded it so that way she could watch the kids. She was really bummed not to be able to be here.”

The comedic play is about a princess in hiding named Emma who hires an inspector to find a stolen medallion that proves she is the heir to the throne.

“Mrs. Resimius and the drama students themselves chose this play, so it was kind of a group effort,” Buck said. “They looked at some different options. We didn’t have a big budget, so we had to find something that was reasonably priced because some plays are very expensive to purchase. The kiddos picked that one as their choice to perform. It turned out really well.”

Moore, who played Emma, said she enjoyed working with a cast that included 20 students.

“In the beginning, we were all strangers,” Moore said. “Now, it’s kind of like we’re one big family.”

Engleman, who turned 12 on March 31, was the costume designer for the play.

“That was a challenge, but it was really fun,” Engleman said.
The play was the first event that was held at the newly remodeled multipurpose room at MCMS.

“We’re in the works of getting a new sound system,” Buck said. “So hopefully next year’s production will be even better because we’ll be able to hear a little bit better. The acoustics will be better.”

Even though there was no entry fee, donations were given to help cover the cost of future performances.

“It’s fantastic,” Buck said. “We appreciate the community so much for reaching out and donating to us. Hopefully, we could use that towards future performances and we could have a bigger budget for some of our backgrounds and those kinds of things.”

Other students who participated in the play were Addison Brower, Leah Cobb, Kadence Cole, Lucian Cowsert, Gavin Davis, Ryleigh Foster, Rachel Harris, Paige Hawkins, Reaghan Hemeyer, Allie Johnson, Dakota Marion, Charlotte Meyers, Dylan Murr, Jonathan Pike, Harmony Shahan, Aundrea Smith, Charlotte Vance and Jayson Yordt.

Besides Engleman, Marion (assistant director), Davis (stage manager), Foster (scenery), Cobb (makeup) and Trenity Isgriggs (props) were the other crew members.