The Great Wall was the only element missing from the Lamoine Consolidated School gymnasium last Thursday as a wave of Chinese culture engulfed the building thanks to a local playwright.

Carol Korty, a published playwright and retired college professor, had the idea of casting local schoolchildren in her play “Riding the Wind” earlier this year.

Not long after, the entire faculty and student body were swept up in a whirlwind of Chinese folklore. Teachers incorporated aspects of Korty’s play comprising four stories that touch on themes from strength to beauty. For instance, art teacher Pat Haugh and students fabricated the colorful papier mache head on the 15-foot dragon and a Chinese-style backdrop propped up by two lunchroom tables.

In music class, teacher Karen Hawthorne had students learn to play Asian-style music on different instruments. Soloists performed at intervals during the play.

“All of the teachers have really gotten into it and have worked with their kids. It was hard to get all these different energies and ages to work together and I think [the students] did an incredible job,” Korty said after Thursday’s afternoon performance. “I think that when they reflect on it, they’ll feel proud of themselves.”

For months, over 100 schoolchildren in grades kindergarten through seventh grade have worked three or four times a week with the playwright to learn and polish their parts and produce the double-feature event. A group of eighth-graders, who chose not to participate, wound up shooting a DVD of the performance.

“My children have talked about it almost every single day when they come home because not only are they learning about theater but they are learning the whole culture of China,” related Mary Henry of Lamoine, whose daughters Kelly and Robyn were in the production. “We’re so grateful for Carol Korty. She doesn’t mind sharing her time and energy and passion of theater with the children.”

Outside of the Lamoine school, Korty has directed a play annually in the local community in recent years. Like those local productions, the playwright said some 20 community members pitched in to make costumes and props and help out in other ways to stage “Riding the Wind.”

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