The Little Red Truck

Filmmaker Rob Whitehair's The Little Red Truck profiles the Missoula Children's Theatre's remarkably extensive outreach program for kids with little or no stage experience. MCT serves tens of thousands of children in hundreds of communities across the United States (and more in other countries), arriving in trademark red trucks carrying ready-made costumes and props to produce shows such as The Little Mermaid and The Frog Prince with local kids in a mere six days. The majority of the children have never performed on stage, let alone rehearsed, so it's no wonder that scenes of harried MCT directors working with their young casts look like exercises in chaos and futility, as Whitehair captures the day-by-day (organized) madness, sitting in on pre-audition exercises, intense rehearsals, and last-minute fine-tuning. While Whitehair's interviews with MCT's various roaming directors are touching and insightful, what's missing here is a real sense of the impact for kids involved in the MCT experience. One young adolescent does talk about giving up the gang life, while another self-consciously struggles to explain what acting feels like, but The Little Red Truck seems far more interested in exploring MCT's process. Ultimately, the film is more public relations than insightful documentary. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD extras include an interview with MCT co-founder Jim Caron (6 min.), “Ethan Uncut” clips featuring a young cast member (7 min.), an interview with director Rob Whitehair (5 min.), an interview with participant J.K. Simmons (5 min.), four minutes of deleted scenes, and trailers. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a lightweight documentary.] (T. Keogh)