Kids on Stage
Menomonie’s new youth theater group
Diane Embry, photos by Andrea Paulseth |
Bringing a 120-year old theater to life is the ideal job for those overflowing with energy and vitality: children. Beginning with a performance this month, Menomonie’s new Red Cedar Youth Stage will be revitalizing the Mabel Tainter Center for the Arts. Directed by Blaine Halverson, this youth theater group is now rehearsing for Caddie Woodlawn, a musical play based on the novel by Carol Ryrie Brink and written by Susan Hunter and Thomas Shelton.
Halverson has been the president of the Menomonie Theater Guild for four years, and decided to move forward with a different dream of directing youth theater. The MTG recently hired Halverson to be their first executive director, and thus, ReCYS will be a faction of the guild.
“I kept listening to people around me who were wishing for a more opportunities for the kids,” Halverson said. “That would be the goal of this theater – to make sure that every show would have a good selection of opportunities for kids.”
Halverson believes youth theater will enhance the community in a number of ways. “Number one, it tells our kids, ‘Hey, we value you, and we want to make sure you have the chance to grow and learn and develop in whatever ways you are gifted or you desire.’ Number two, it says, ‘We value our town and county in a way that we make sure to enrich lives with the art,’” Halverson said. “Also, when you get kids involved, you get parents caring about it. You might get parents involved who haven’t had experience with theater, but their little girl wants to do it, so now mom’s sewing costumes.”
Menomonie resident Becky Baker will be in the performance with her 11-year-old daughter, Katie. Baker will be playing Mrs. Adams, and Katie will be Caddie.
“I’m so impressed that Blaine saw the need for this kind of creative outlet and filled it. Now I have something I can do together with my daughter. I get to be there with her to share the experience of her first big role,” Baker said.
Besides helping families like the Bakers, another of Halverson’s goals is to keep people connected to the rich history of the Mabel Tainter.
“As time goes on, in order to keep that place flourishing, we have to have local performances to draw people in each generation. To me, a youth theater is one of the best ways a community can help guarantee that that place is what it is and more for decades to come. When you get kids involved, they can develop a relationship with that place and it becomes a priority for the rest of their lives.”
There are four performances scheduled for this coming season: Dunn County’s own Caddie Woodlawn, a Christmas variety show, a kids musical, and extensive summer programming.
Halverson also plans to create after-school theater programs where kids will have the chance to design and perform a folktale or fairytale play and present it to the community. With this outreach as well as performances, he plans to provide 200 area youths with the opportunity to perform in the coming year.
Along with the ReCYS, Halverson also plans to help youth reach their potential through a Youth Comedy Team of 10th to 12th graders from area schools who will work on sketch and improv comedy.
“What I’d like to do is have the Youth Comedy Team work with a school district, identify a need within the arts programs, and then do performances that would have the proceeds benefit that program,” Halverson said. “So the kids are getting the opportunity to learn how to develop a program, direct themselves, how to market themselves, but also they are serving something other than themselves while doing it.”
In collaboration with the MTG, this Youth Comedy Team, ReCYS, and after-school theater will open up numerous opportunities for Menomonie-area kids in the near future.
Caddie Woodlawn • Sept. 17-20 • Mabel Tainter Center for the Arts • 7:30pm on Sept.17-19, 2pm on Sept. 19-20 • $18 adults, $16 kids/seniors/students • www.mabeltainter.com
