Youth program gives students chance to perform on stage

Release Date: 8/27/2003. Expired: 9/20/2003

Students in several Middle Tennessee counties will have the opportunity to experience the excitement of performing on stage as part of The Renaissance Center’s annual Youth Theatrical Outreach Program.

Parts are available for more than 50 students in grades K-12 to perform in an original production based on an African folk tale. Written by Kim Leavitt, director of Theatre Education and Outreach at The Renaissance Center, Why the Rain Falls in the Jungle tells the story of Chango, the god of thunder and lightning, and how the jungle came to have a rainy season.

Open auditions will be 9 a.m. Sept. 6 at The Renaissance Center for students in Dickson and Perry counties. Those students then rehearse at the center each afternoon of the week of Sept. 8-12 and present the play at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 13 in the Performance Hall.

Students in Hickman, Houston and Humphreys counties can audition for the production at 9 a.m. Sept. 13. They will rehearse the week of Sept. 15-19 and present the play at 10:30 a.m. Sept. 20.

“For many students, this is their first opportunity to work in a live theatrical production,” Leavitt said. “We have parts for actors of all school ages and they don’t have to have any previous experience.”

The students get to work with the professional staff of the Theatre Department at The Renaissance Center, including having the lighting and sound designed and operated by the center’s technical staff, coaching from members of the center’s Repertory Theatre Company and direction from Leavitt, who has written, performed in and directed several productions for the Rep Co., Renaissance Players community theatre and the Gaslight Dinner Theatre.

“Amy Arrington, a member of our professional Repertory Theatre Company, will play Erzulie, the goddess of love as she serves as the professional actress working with the kids,” Leavitt said. “She was the narrator for last year’s productions of Jack and the Beanstalk and the students really enjoyed working with her.”

There are 53 parts for students in grades K-12 in each week’s production. The parts include elephants, jellyfish, seahorses, zebras, hyenas and a lion, among others.

“The kids will learn a song and be taught choreography in addition to learning their lines,” Leavitt said. “Several of the students who participated in previous Youth Theatrical Outreach Program shows have gone on to perform in some of our Renaissance Players community productions such as The Sound of Music. Our upcoming season includes the opportunity for many children to get a chance to be on stage in productions of Cinderella, The Miracle Worker and The Wizard of Oz, and the YTOP program is a good first exposure to being in a play and on stage.”

Rehearsals are 4-6 p.m. throughout the week following the two days of auditions. Participation is free.

Tickets for the Saturday performances are $5.

For more information on the Youth Theatrical Outreach Program at The Renaissance Center, contact Leavitt at (615)740-5551 or by email at . The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson.