Water Cooler Wednesday-Not Quiet Ready For Broadway (Really?)


This video explains a little bit about an extraordinary group of teenagers here in our town who take the summer months to produce 3 productions at our local theater. Yes, you heard that right--all run and organized by teenagers. It's something to see these young and upcoming artists with their zeal for the theater. You can read more here

They run a theater camp (2 week) for Elementary and Junior High and produce a season ending spectacular. I'd say that their name doesn't fit--they are quite ready for Broadway.
This year they will produce: Jungle Book (Elementary); Annie Jr. (Junior High) and Anything Goes (High School and community).

In addition there will be a production of A COMPANY OF WAYWARD SAINTS that yours truly (me!) will be a part of at the end of June. I had the joy of auditioning last week with Craig Robertson. Craig is an ambitious 18 year old who loves the theater and is headed to TCU next year to pursue Theater. I told him how proud I was of his "initiative" to always bring us theater in the summer. I'd like to think that if I was 18 again, I'd be like Craig. He'll be directing A COMPANY OF WAYWARD SAINTS while also appearing in the cast. Rehearsals begin next Monday.

That is 4 productions in less than 2 months. I don't know any Broadway theater that does that. I'll keep you posted in the coming months on these productions and the participants. I'm hoping to blog about some of the kids in these productions and their take on the future of artists in our world--should be interesting.

What about your town? Is theater alive? What are the places where young people can plug in and apprentice in the arts?

This post was part of Water Cooler Wednesday over on Randy Elrod's site--Ethos. It's the gathering spot for creatives who want to impact their culture.

4 comments:

Audra Krell said...

We have some children't theatre going on, but it tends to be the same kids in every production. I love this hometown feel concept these 18 year olds have going. That's the way it should be.

Anonymous said...

Hey Jim,
You live in Snyder? My grandmother lives there and i used to be the band and theatre director in Gail/Borden County. What church are you at there? Oh, and theatre should be alive and well in Snyder as it is the home of the Jerry P. Worsham Theatre. One of the greatest high school programs ever. That is an amazing story. i tried to send you an email about that.

chuck

Anonymous said...

sorry, i missed your comment back to me on the earlier post. my grandmother actually was telling me about the big celebration that ya'll had last week. She goes to your church. She plays the piano out in Knapp on Sunday mornings, but comes to your church early service and i think she sings in a "senior adult" choir. i love your blog. it's good to know that someone who is artistic can survive in a town like Snyder. Awesome!!

Julie said...

That's awesome!