As the director of HENRY AND RAMONA I am extremely very proud of the cast, crew and parents of this terrific production. Let’s take it one at a time!
The Cast:
The cast has a wonderful mixture “veterans” and “newbies.” The veterans have helped the newbies bring their characters to life. I am so proud and thankful for the people who have the performance experience. They have brought creativity and professionalism to our production. I have been able to let them do their thing while I concentrate on the new actors.
The new actors to the stage have worked so extremely hard and have taken direction very well. They’ve listened carefully to my direction and tried diligently to incorporate my comments. We’ve had to work very hard, I won’t lie to you, but the hard work has paid off. I am so impressed with the progress they have made. I doubt the audiences can tell who are the pros and who are new to this crazy thing we call, acting!
The adults in the cast have been outstanding. Again, they bring a sense of joy and professionalism to the cast. Thank you Frank McNichol, Butch Vandehey, Kira Taylor and Jeannette Noble. I couldn’t have chose a better group of people to be the adults on Klickitat St.
It’s pure joy for me to see the cast put the whole thing up in front of an audience. That’s when the real magic happens!
The Crew:
I can’t say enough about our young crew. It’s not easy being a crew member under my direction, especially for the stage manager. I tend to change my mind about things often and expect the stage manager to read my mind. Both puts stress on him/her. (I’m always impressed when a stage manager is willing to work with me again!) Luckily we work with amongst a lot of laughter. The stage crew then needs to follow the stage manger’s orders, then again coming from me it can be difficult. Our light and sound crew are the best. I have always considered the stage crew to be the unsung heroes of a production.
The Parents:
I can’t say enough wonderful things about the parents. They allow their families lives to be disrupted in order for their child(ren) to have this wonderful opportunity and they even spend time and money to help the production become a success.
I believe some children’s theatre companies do not have the parents do much in terms of props, costumes, sets, etc. So far, not us and to be honest I hope STAGES never gets to the point where we don’t rely on parents to help in those regards. I believe it contributes a great deal to the family-feel of a show and allows the parents (and siblings) to be a part of the production. They take ownership in it.
I always joyfully marvel at the atmosphere created during rehearsals when the cast is rehearsing and parents are busy working on props and costumes. It’s what theatre is all about for me.
For this show we’ve had to have the parents step forward and take on some tasks usually done by our wonderful Cindy Wilkins. I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done. More heroes!
Thank you to everyone who has helped to make this show a success. Non-parent people of the cast have come out of the woodwork to add their creativity. People like John Ollis, Jeremy Ollis, Josh Cleland, Dan McFarling, William Crawford (though he’s an intregal part of STAGES), Peter Stein. I know I’m forgetting others and will insert them when I think of them.
I love theatre. I love kids. I love children’s theatre. It brings many people together for the good of the kids!
