By Bryson Carter

“The Rainbow Fish” is a classic children’s book that was recently brought to life right here at Greensboro College on March 2. This 45-minute production also toured many schools across Guilford County. It was selected and directed by junior theatre education major Kirra Hough.

“I chose the Rainbow Fish because I wanted something that would give me the most creative freedom in my design process while also having a clear and positive message for the audience,” Hough said.

The show traveled to Morehead Elementary, Cone Elementary and Herbin Metz Special Education Center off-campus.

“On every part of the tour, I could not stop smiling with our audiences,” Hough explained.

Touring shows to local elementary schools used to be quite common among the surrounding colleges, but because of COVID-19, it was difficult for those colleges to continue. However, one of Hough’s goals was to bring this tradition back, and she succeeded.

“I wanted to start up the process of touring children’s theatre at least once a year to schools in Guilford County again,” she explained, “and I wanted to do it with a really fun show.”

Putting on a production like this is certainly not easy, especially knowing how durable and solidified everything must be to travel.

“Designing and directing every element by myself, I had a lot of late nights in the costume shop and work calls in our 501 studio to make sure every piece was finished on time and designed the way I wanted it to be,” said Hough when asked what the hardest part about this production was.

In addition, she had to cut down the script when the show toured the special education center, which came with its own difficulties.

“I had to cut the show down from 45 minutes to 25 minutes, which was much harder than expected, especially since I had to make sure that story line still made sense.”

Even with the struggles, the show was still a huge success.

“It was amazing being able to see how excited the schools were to have a theatre production come to their students,” Hough stated. “I also loved just being able to see the students’ reactions to the show.”

At the end of the tour, the cast and crew performed right here at Greensboro College in the Parlor Theatre in Main Building to a sold-out crowd.

When asked what she learned most from the experience, Hough’s answer was simple: “I learned so much about myself as a director, artist and future educator.”

It is definitely safe to say that Hough will be well loved no matter where she ends up teaching.