There was definitely something fishy going on Saturday at the Naval Air Station Whidbey Island Youth Center.

Actually, it was part of a Missoula Children’s Theatre, headquartered in Montana, production of “The Little Mermaid.” So while it was fishy, it was also full of fun for the 50 children who participated in the production and for the family and friends who had the chance to see the performances.

“What an opportunity for the kids,” said NASWI Youth Director Cynthia Fletcher. “Not only for the kids in the show, but for the kids who are at the Youth Center.”

The two-person team from MCT arrived at the center for auditions on the last day of school, June 20. They brought with them the set, the costumes and a lot of enthusiasm. Rehearsals began that very day, and continued throughout the rest of the week. But in addition to the rehearsals for the play, the team also conducted workshops.

“They did a theater games workshop with the youth center staff, a theater makeup class for the kids and an improv class with the teens,” said Fletcher.

“Missoula has a tried and true method for teaching,” said MCT tour director Libby Hollinger, who comes from a long line of teachers. “This method is so unique and it works.”

With only five days to rehearse, the Missoula team has its work cut out for it. But the youth involved become more and more confident as the week progresses, and even though it’s a lot to remember, they say the experience is more about fun than anything else.

“I like watching the Prince fight the dragon because the costume is so cool,” said 11-year-old Elysium Anselme, who played Delia, one of the mermaids. “It was funny how he gave it a breath mint.”

“I like it because I’m into drama. I’m a showy person,” said 13-year-old Madison Pewitt, who played another mermaid, Gil. “I get to express who I am.”

Pewitt had an even bigger challenge than the rest of the cast — a last-minute conflict forced the original Gil to drop out, so Pewitt took over the role on Wednesday. Plus, she had the challenge of having to play a boy.

“I have three brothers, so it wasn’t so hard,” she said. “You just have to be concentrated on your role.”

“It was hard memorizing the lines, but I like getting to be the queen and having a main part,” said Lyndsay Duchnowski, 11.

Casey Quijano, 13, played the Prince. He set the bar high for the other actors by memorizing his lines in one night.

“They were challenging lines, but it was great to learn them,” he said. “It was fun working with everyone and not care about messing up.”

Casey’s mother, Amanda Quijano, had three children involved in the production. Besides Casey, her son, Nathaniel, was a sea scout and her daughter, Gabrielle, was a seasider. It was a busy week, she said, but well worth it.

“They all had different practice times, but they came home and sang all the songs together. They loved it,” she said. “It was so much fun. You commit one week and then have this performance. It was great.”

While there are many different rewards to being involved with Missoula Children’s Theatre, Hollinger said working with the kids is definitely the best.

“We don’t know them, we don’t know anything about them — we have no preconceived notions about whether they’re difficult to work with, whether they have behavior issues,” she said. “We just see fresh faces.”

Hollinger said it’s great to watch the kids come alive on stage.

“They may hold back during the rehearsals and we’re always telling them to ‘let yourself go,’” she said. “But something seems to happen every Saturday morning when we have that dress rehearsal and they’re in costume. Then they’re on the stage during the performance and they see Mom in the audience, and things just magically change.”

This is the third time the NASWI Youth Center has received a grant to host the Missoula Children’s Theatre program, according to Fletcher. The program is made possible by Commander Naval Installations Command.

The Missoula Children’s Theatre was formed in 1970, and began tours in 1974. Today there are 45 teams of two who travel to all 50 states, 16 countries, four provinces and two territories.

According to Hollinger, MCT will have performances in 1,200 communities this year, appearing before 750,000 audience members and giving 65,000 cast members a chance to be in the spotlight.