Stage Talk with Rick Koster
Where every show has something to say.
Karyn and Bryan Dawidowicz
Summer on Stage
Most children happily remember their first performances. Maybe it was that Nativity play in the fifth grade. Or doing skits in home room. Or church choir concerts. And no one can forget talent shows! (Although there always seemed to be that one precocious kid who flawlessly sang Ave Maria or nailed Falstaff’s “Honour” speech from Henry IV Part 1.)
Well, all the world’s a stage — and that means that, when young folks get to participate in an artistic production at any level of experience, it opens all sorts of creative doors and provides a wealth of life skills that extend far beyond the arts into real-world practicality.
Those are the concepts behind the popular and enduring Summer on Stage series at the Garde. In long-time partnership with the Missoula Children’s Theatre, SOS annually conducts three separate week-long programs where up to 60 local students rehearse and attend a variety of workshops culminating with two performances of an original musical.
This week’s production is Aladdin, which will be staged at 7 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. Saturday on the Garde stage. It’s the last of this year’s three Summer on Stage/Missoula Children’s Theatre show in the Garde — all of which will have taken place on three consecutive, very busy weeks.
In anticipation of Aladdin, we spoke earlier this week with Karyn Dawidowicz. She and her husband Byran Dawidowicz, formerly at Nathan Hale Arts Magnet School in New London, have been coordinators of Summer on Stage since the program resumed post Covid.
The Garde: Hi Karyn! Talk a bit about the association between the Garde and the Missoula Children’s Theatre.
Karyn: This is a community tradition and partnership with the Missoula Children’s Theatre that goes back over 30 years now. They’re the nation’s oldest children’s theater company, and theirs is a remarkable concept. For each production, they send out two directors in these little red trucks that are basically packed with everything you need to stage an entire, full-fledged children’s musical. That includes specialists and professional lead actors for that show. And at any given time, there are these productions going on across the country.
Garde: Amazing. Walk us through how it works.
Karyn: Sure. This week’s Aladdin, right? So the Missoula truck arrived Monday morning and unloaded. They started auditioning local children at 10 a.m. At noon, the kids had lunch, and by 12:30 the first group of kids were called in for rehearsals that afternoon.
Missoula gives out a calendar on Monday for all the friends and family and the parents. It’s like, “Here’s the cast list and everybody’s rehearsal schedule. Follow the schedule and we’ll see you at your next rehearsal!” By the end of the week, the script is memorized and the kids are ready and by Friday and Saturday they’re doing full performances. It’s quick and intense because it has to be, but it’s also a lot of fun. Then they’ll pack up the truck and head to the next town.
Garde: But, in addition to the musical, you Summer on Stage folks simultaneously are involved with tangential programming, right?
Karyn: Right. The kids are here at the Garde every day from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. regardless of their rehearsal schedules. When they’re not in rehearsal, they’re busy doing various other supplemental programs that I oversee with my staff. The idea is that, while the show comes first, we have workshops where the kids are learning other skills that enhance the performances.
So, it’s like, “Let’s learn some improvisational skills. Let’s learn some stagecraft skills. Let’s learn about projecting our voice and vocal performance.” They’ll also learn technical elements like stage costuming, lighting and sound. These are aspects that are just going to make the show better and at the same time enhance self-confidence and self-expression.
Garde: What’s the typical age range for the kids and how do they fit in the production?
Karyn: Missoula’s programs are designed for maximum participation and experience. The shows are very cookie cutter in the sense that every production has the same format. There is a group of six- and seven-year-olds that maxes out at 16 participants. They have very special roles and, for Aladdin, they’re penguins.
Garde: Penguins?
Karyn (laughs): Yes, Aladdin is traditionally set in a desert atmosphere, right? But this week Aladdin will encounter penguins, and I can say that we have 13 very lucky six- and seven-year-olds who are excited to be penguins.
Garde: Works for me.
Karyn: Yes! They’ll come onstage at various times and do at least one song, maybe twp, and then usually the finale. They get to have several key moments on stage.
And then we have roles for ages eight through 16. And those kids audition and they’re cast depending on their abilities at the audition. This week, we also have one group of sailors and a separate group of vagabonds who are Aladdin’s friends. And, of course, several genies, right?
Garde: I’m sure every aspect of the show is designed so it’s very easy for the kids to learn their parts.
Karyn: Right. For instance, the group of nine sailors. They all learn the songs together, they all have lines in between and can cover for each other. It’s a situation where the kids know there’s always someone who has their back. Same thing with the penguins.
Also, of the two Missoula tour directors, one is always the lead actor. So, the lead genie is actually a professional actor from Missoula Children’s Theater. That’s the person who knows the show the best, and if any kid comes out with that deer in the headlights look and forgets what comes next, the professional actor can instantly cover and move the show along because, again, the kids young and they have to learn the show in just a few days. So that’s part of the experience, too.
Garde: I suspect these show and your workshops only enhance your belief in the capacity f young people to learn and enjoy the process.
Karyn: It’s amazing what these kids can do. They are learning choreography. They are learning lyrics — and some of them are really difficult lyrics — as well as endlines and show order and flow.
This is my fifth consecutive year running the program, of watching all three weeks of shows coming together every single time. I’m a former actor myself and I constantly think, “Wow these kids learn these crazy lyrics and all of these movements and I don’t know if I could still do that.”
But kids are very susceptible to these experiences and they’re having fun while doing it, which is the key. They’re with friends, and, you know, the stakes are high, and they’re rising to the challenge. It just amazes me every single week: one great show after another.
Garde: Do you guys occasionally see a kid during one of the Summer on Stage sessions, and they just stand out in a context where you might say, “My God, that’s the next Philip Seymour Hoffman!”?
Karyn (laughs): You know, what’s fun about this program is that it emphasizes a very strong ensemble concept. That’s part of the teaching experience. But, yes, there are moments where you see people that just stick out and you think, “Boy, this person could, you know, be special.”
Garde: You’re right, though, the main goal is to provide not just a fun experience but also teach skills that aren’t just applicable to the stage arts but also in general.
Karyn: Exactly. These are the skills that you could take into the corporate world or anywhere, because if you can do a show in a week like this, you can do anything. And case in point, I had an adult come up to me after the show last Saturday. It was obviously someone who’d seen the show.
And this gentleman approached as I was standing in the back, literally checking kids out and getting their costumes back. And he said, “I just wanted to tell you that I work at EB. Years ago, I was on this very stage with Missoula Children’s Theater here at the Garde. Obviously, I did not continue to go into theater. But I use every single skill that I learned here onstage at the Garde every day at Electric Boat.”
I told him, “I say that all the time and no one believes me!”
He said, “I kid you not. I have to improvise at work. I have to address my colleagues on a daily basis. I have to problem-solve. I have to think on my feet. I have to drop everything and go do this thing now. It’s amazing to me what I learned, and I always attribute it back to this stage and this program.”
It meant a lot that he wanted to thank me for our work in continuing this program. You don’t have to go on to become the next Philip Seymour Hoffman, although that would be nice. But it’s great just to become a successful person in your field, a confident person who knows how to carry themselves and speak — and listen — to others. Those are important skills.
Garde: Your time is up! You need to get back to the kids because you’ve got a production to do in very few days. But let’s close with this. Any visitor to the Garde is blown away by this venue and staff. Those are qualities that aren’t taken for granted even by long-term season ticket holders.
But it’s got to be pretty fun to watch a little kid walk into the Garde for the first time and the realization hits that they’re going to be ON THAT STAGE.
Karyn: Yes! How many times will some of these kids be able to say they’ve been on a stage of this caliber? It might be the only time in their lives it happens. And that’s OK because they’ll always be able to say they did it.
I think it must be a magical experience to have. I see kids who’ve never been here before and they look around in absolute awe. And that’s amazing, but at the same time, it’s not intimidating to these kids. I really do think that they feel at home here. There’s just an atmosphere of comfort and security and creativity.
Right now, we have kids in every corner of the theater doing different things in different groups. You guys are working on this. You’re doing a scene over here. You’re doing some improv skills over there. You’re up in the oasis room and you’re making sock puppets, or you’re in a rehearsal in the mezzanine lobby versus being on the main stage.
Every aspect of the theater and the arts center is being used for this program. And so, when the kids walk through the door, they’re like, oh, I know this place. This is home.