Prince of Biroca

Starring David Nesher as the Prince of Biroca

The Prince of Biroca was written by Mike Mattson and was originally performed as a regular Saturday evening Campfire sometime in the late '90s. For a few years, Birch Rock used the old rifle range as an outdoor theater, and the Prince of Biroca was a highlight of those outdoor skits.

During the summer of 2000, Mike Mattson started talking to Ryan Massey about reviatalizing that outdoor theater one more time and bringing the Prince of Biroca back to camp once more. It was not until the summer of 2001 that they decided to do it, and this time it would be a Sunday afternoon event, which meant it had to be a little longer. Mike quickly fired out a skit and had all the staff on board. Ryan and Mike prepped the Rifle Range by weedwacking and clearing away some fallen brush. Props and costumes were purchased or made, including a paper mache Dragon's head that Ryan, Mike and Cole Penley put together.

The skit had background music for slow motion battle scenes, Ryan and Mike scraped a bunch of sparklers so the witches could through a powder into the campfire and make it sparkle, and a water balloon was put in a bowl of ketchup and used by a witch as a heart pulled out of a knight's chest. The campers were told to act as the sickened townspeople between scenes and were handed M&Ms as a temporary medicine until the Prince could journey to the Spring of Longevity and bring its liquid back to the people. By the end of the skit upon the Prince's slaying of the dragon a chest was found with the Spring of Longevity inside, which was cans of Sprite.

Although Mike was a barbarian in the original skit, he chose to act as a narrator this time as a way to better control the pace.

The Story

The story begins with the Prince and the castles wise Man-in-Arms practicing sword play. Music is playing in the background as the two battle all through out the audience. As the music fades, a few knights entire and sound the horns, one knight hollars "the King" and kneels. They all kneel as the King enters escorted by knights. The King is coughing and is not well. He explains to his son that is up to him to save the King and his sick people (the audience is told to cough). As the King has his servents offer a temporary medicine he asks the Prince to travel to the Arch Bishop of Biroca and seek his advice.

The Prince travels with his trusty Man-in-Arms and a few knights to the great church of Biroca. There the Arch Bishop tells them that they must travel to the caves of the Three Witches and learn from them the location of the Spring of Longevity. The immediately muster and move out. As they adventure all around the audience and along the wall in the back of the old rifle range, a group of Ogres start hurling boulders(soccer balls) from above. One night is knocked off and plummets to his death.

Then they travel off into the woods behind Lion's Den and march down around from the other side. Next they are attacked and netted by a troop of Wood-elves. Luckliy they are rescued by a mighty Wizard who arrives up on the roof of the old range building, firing bottle rockets in the air from his wrists. This scares the elves off towards the Lion's Den where they are attacked by two barbarians. The Wizard and Barbarians agree to join the party.

The massive group travel all around the range and eventually arrive outside the "cave". The witches are chanting around a fire pit three feet from the front of the audience. They weave spells and sprinkle sparkler dust into the fire. Just then one of the knights just charges in screaming, and a witch pops up and yanks the water balloon heart away from the knights chest as he drops dead. The witch holds the heart high and then licks the balloon. The Wizard shouts, "Enough!" and blasts the witch. The rest attack the other witches and capture them quickly. The witches tell them where the Spring of Biroca is in exchange for their release and slink off into the woods.

After one more dangerous journey they finally arrive at the Dragon's lair. The dragon, three staff members under a black blanket, one manning the paper mache head to open and close the mouth, comes surging out of the rifle range building and kills a barbarian quickly and then manages to eat the wizard as well. Finally, the Prince, older Barbarian, and Man-in-Arms overcome and destroy the dragon. Shortly after that the chest with the Spring is found and the audience gets a Sprite.

(|class=wikitable" |+Cast !Role !Actor |-align="center" |King |Rich Deering |-align="center" |Prince |David Nesher |-align="center" |Man-in-Arms |Josh Pincus |-align="center" |Arch Bishop |Thomas Joyce |-align="center" |Wizard |Ryan Massey |-align="center" |Barbarian |Lenza Latendresse |-align="center" |Barbarian |Erik Joelsson |-align="center" |Knight |Mark Sutherland |-align="center" |Knight |Mike Nordblom |-align="center" |Knight |Pete Callanan |-align="center" |Witch |Gerhardus Van Rensburg |-align="center" |Witch |Clinton O'Leary |-align="center" |Witch |Jacobus Pietrse |-align="center" |Many Roles |Colin Penley and Owen Wolfertz

Some of the Cast Pictures

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  Rich Deering as the sickened King

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  Thomas Joyce as the Arch Bishop

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  Ryan Massey as the Wizard

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  Lenza Latendresse as a Barbarian

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  Erik Joelsson as a Barbarian

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  Gerhardus Van Rensberg as a Witch

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  Jacubus Pietrse as a Witch

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  Clinton O'Leary as a Witch