Director spends summer with the kids
Tom Titus
Summertime has been a special time for the last several years for
director Terri Miller Schmidt. It’s the time she spends with the
kids. Not her own kids. The ones who comprise the casts of the summer
children’s show at the Newport Theater Arts Center.
Schmidt has mounted summer productions over the past few years of
“Popeye,” “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and “The Princess and the Magic
Pea.” Next weekend, she’ll unwrap a new version of a classic folk
tale, “The Magical Pied Piper.”
“It’s a project I always look forward to each year,” she says.
“With my background of producing and directing children’s theater in
Orange County since 1984, I am constantly reminded of the need for
this kind of theatrical experience not only for the children who
perform in or attend these plays, but for their parents and family
members, too.”
It’s not just a “kids’ show.” Local adult luminaries who have
participated in past summer productions include veteran performers
Teri Ciranna, Adriana Sanchez, Damien Lorton and Jack Millis, just to
name a few. It’s a genre in which these veterans have an opportunity
to play as broadly as they want to -- and they take full advantage of
it.
“I especially enjoy casting adults in the adult roles so the
younger cast members have a chance to learn from experienced actors,”
said the director, a recent Daily Pilot woman of the year in theater.
“Some of these kids may never appear in another play, and some of
them will use this experience to launch an entire career in the
performing arts,” Schmidt said. “I have seen it happen over and over
again. Some of the children we have had here at NTAC have gone on to
perform on Broadway and other top regional theaters.”
The youngsters learn the art of performing on stage from the
veterans and discover, as Schmidt said, “the pure fun and joy of
performing for a live audience in a professional theater atmosphere.”
“I also encourage the youths to involve themselves in the
technical aspects of theater,” she added. “We have young people
apprenticing as light board operators, stage crew and tech people,
working side by side with qualified adults learning the ins and outs
of technical support. What better way to establish a new crop of
‘techies’ for the theater?”
The payoff for Schmidt comes from watching the reaction of the
young audience members, some of whom will be experiencing a live
performance for the first time.
“It’s always thrilling to me to see children in the audience,” she
said. “In this day of immediate gratification and surreal stimulation
from electronic games, digital animation and unbelievable special
effects in film, it is a real challenge to work to try to involve
these kids with a character in a play. Not only the kids up there
acting, but the kids out there watching.”
You don’t see “The Magical Pied Piper” produced too often --
perhaps because the ending, as originally written in the folk tale
“The Pied Piper of Hamelin,” was a bit of a downer. Never fear. In
the NTAC version, the director assures that all will turn out well.
For those unfamiliar with the story, the village of Hamelin is
plagued by rats. The mayor offers a reward for anyone who can
disperse them. When a young man with a magical pipe leads the rats
from the town and returns for his reward, the mayor reneges -- so the
piper works his magic on the town’s children who, in the original
story, are never heard from again.
“In our version, the children are released from the spell of the
pipe and return home to their loving parents, and the mayor gets his
due,” Schmidt promised.
“These are extremely bright and talented kids, and I am always
proud of the parents who clear their schedules and busy lives to
bring the kids to the audition and performances and make a commitment
to involve them in the performing arts,” she said.
“It’s harder and harder for parents to find these kinds of
entertainment, and I am convinced that once they involve their kids
and themselves, it can truly change lives,” Schmidt said.
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