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By Myki Jones Sopris Sun Correspondent

The Marble Charter School Players recently performed an original play called “The Middle World,” based on a novel by the same name written by Redstone author Nicole “Nikki” Beinstein, who also teaches at the charter school. On April 14-15, The Redstone Inn premiered the show in its Lady Bountiful Room. The goal of Marble Charter School is to have this be a mainstage production sometime soon. This semi-musical featured the talents of fifth through eighth graders singing original music by Jessa Young and some student performers taking on multiple roles. It ran for roughly two hours and had a 15-minute intermission. Not only were students performing, all the crew responsible for lights and sound effects were also Marble Charter students.

Beinstein met with the Sopris Sun a week before the production to discuss the players involved, her goals and the talents of the students who brought her novel to life. She moved to Redstone in 2007 from New York with her thenhusband and 1-year-old daughter. They lived in a neighborhood across from the

Redstone Castle.

Looking back on her time creating the story for “The Middle World,” Beinstein said she felt a strong connection to the energy of John Osgood’s second wife, Alma Shelgram, more famously referred to as “Lady Bountiful.”

“I was fascinated by her story, then her voice came through to me. I started to write about the story of Redstone from her perspective. At some point, these other characters who are fictional, came to mind and they connected with the spirits of the past here,” she stated.

“The Middle World” tells the story of two 12-year-olds who reside in Redstone, Rose and Kenai, who discover that they can communicate with the spirits of the village’s past. They begin to uncover mysteries behind the Redstone Castle, once called “Cleveholm,” with the help of a new friend, Manuele. The book, written for children ages 9-12, perfectly blends the genres of fantasy and mystery with historic truth, breathing new life into the local lore of Redstone and the Roaring Fork Valley. The story also explores the healing of past tragedies while dealing with modern-day struggles through the eyes and power of children’s clear and innocent outlook.

“I wrote ‘The Middle World’ book and self published it in 2016. Since then, I have gotten a lot of positive feedback and have always wanted to make it into a play,” Beinstein said. “There is always that risk of creating something new, but when you start seeing the pieces come together, it is very exciting, and that's where we are now.”

Fortunately, she got in touch with Oriana Moebius of 13 Moons Ranch who commissioned her book to be turned into a play and would later collaborate with scriptwriter Alexandria Bastow to make the vision come to life. Beinstein later edited the script with her students as work toward the dream was set in motion.

Although it was not a full-scale traditional stage production, the radiostyle stage reading was still something that packed a powerful punch.

“There are some mature topics that we do address in the show that the students are notably more than capable of addressing. They have an incredible amount of insight to provide us when it comes to these questions of love and death. They think about these issues as much, if not more than we do. Yet we often don't allow them to express those things,” she said.

The night of April 15 was a packed show with standing-room only. While the students were a tad nervous, they had amazing chemistry and a way of bringing depth to the characters.

Debuting the play in its early stages at The Redstone Inn added a layer of honoring the history of those who founded Redstone — a perfect beginning for turning the show into a full production. Dialogue among the canonically young characters was quick-witted, sharp, engaging and entertaining.

The way topics like death and divorce were portrayed was touching, tragic and yet digestible enough for younger audience members. The story is informative and interesting spoken aloud, but the true depths of the stories will become much more clear when the show makes its full-scale stage debut.

Marble Charter School will have more updates on “The Middle World” soon. Learn more at marblecharter. gunnisonschools.net