August 9, 2000
Kids audition for fast-pace play
Missoula Theater produces 'Sleeping Beauty' in six days
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Picture 90 kids, ages 5-17, lined up by size from shortest to tallest in a big square at the gymnasium at Central Grade School on Monday morning. Put two energetic, professional actors in the middle of the square to guide everyone through a series of acting exercises and you have a guaranteed good time.
Well, almost guaranteed. A few butterflies in stomachs here and there, but what is a little stage fright when everyone is in the same boat? Most of those auditioning got over their fears quickly.
"At first I was nervous, but then I thought I shouldn't be because of all the other kids here," said Jennifer Smith, 14, a veteran of a Theater Arts class in junior high school.
As Smith and her fellow participants one by one mimicked elation and devastation, rage and sadness they were watched closely by Amber Lynch and Eric Day, two actors and producers from the Missoula Children's Theater.
For the fourth year, members of the Missoula Children's Theater are in Traverse City creating their own brand of theater magic: producing a play from start to finish using local youths in just six days.
With the debut of this year's play, "Sleeping Beauty," just five days away, Lynch and Day had the kids marching, dancing, twirling and emoting throughout the morning. For the audition's grand finale, the kids sang "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" for 18 minutes straight, as Lynch and Day listened closely to each singing voice and made their final decisions.
Then came the toughest part of their job: telling some aspiring young actors they would not be in the play.
"You made our jobs very difficult," Lynch told the assembled kids. "There was not one single person who was not qualified to be in this play. If you did not get a part that does not mean you are not good enough, it just means we did not have a part for you."
For the 50-plus student actors who will be in the play, the rest of this week will be full of rehearsals, costume fittings and set construction.
To pull it off, as the Missoula Children's Theater does week after week in town after town, the week's schedule is as tightly choreographed as the play's dance routines. Within 30 minutes of the auditions, one group of actors was meeting back at the Old Town Playhouse for their first rehearsal.
It is an exciting week for everyone, including the program's sponsors, the Traverse City Children's/Teen Theater.
"Doing a production this way gives more kids a chance to act in one weeks time than any of the other things we do," said June Neal, manager of the Children's/Teen Theater. "For the kids they choose, they will learn to be a part of an ensemble and all parts of production in a short time. It is something they will remember their whole lives."
Neal was pleased to note that more than half of the kids auditioning were new to her, some coming from as far as Central Lake, Leelanau County or Antrim County to try out.
"That's the other good part about this is that no experience is needed," Neal noted. "This is the best week, I always look forward to it."
The idea of an instant play appealed to Carey Eichenlaub, 13, who landed the part of the Queen. A veteran actress, Eichenlaub has appeared in the "Wizard of Oz" earlier this summer and in another Missoula Children's Theater production a few years ago.
"I just thought it would be really fun because I like to be in plays, but I did not want to spend a month rehearsing and then a month performing," Eichenlaub said. "This way it's like, look at what we did in a week."