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A Three-Week Wonder
ON THE INSIDE The latest happenings in our area Page 2
July 14, 2016
The kids are puttin’ on a show in Duryea
by Caitlin West STAFF WRITER
Most musical theater groups have more than three weeks to learn their lines, rehearse, build sets, put together costumes and fulfill the myriad other tasks necessary to complete before opening night. But the kids in Phoenix Theater’s summer intensive theater camp accepted just that challenge and will present the fruit of their efforts, “How To Eat Like a Child,” from Friday to Sunday, July 15 to 17, at Phoenix Performing Arts Centre, 409-411 Main St. in Duryea. Shows begin at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets for the show are $10 for general admission and $5 for children 5 and younger. Reservations are recommended because of limited seating. This marks the first production of “How To Eat Like a Child” in the area, director/choreographer Lee LaChette said, joking that she doesn’t “think anybody knows it exists.” One of her students performed a song from the show a few years back “that was really cute,” she said, and she looked it up and found out what show it belonged to. “It was a really fun song, and I thought if this was fun, maybe the rest of them are,” LaChette said. LaChette stumbled across the stage production again when perusing a theatrical show licensing book. Based on a book by Delia Ephron — and adapted into a 1981 TV movie starring Dick Van Dyke and Corey Feldman — the comedic show features “a series of little monologues and songs all put together about growing up as a child,” LaChette said. Topics range from “how to beg for a dog” to “how to torture your sister” to “how to laugh hysterically.” “I think that if you bring the family, it’s going to be great for the younger kids … but there’s something for the older (kids) and adults,” LaChette said. “It would be a great family night out.” Jade Casella of Avoca is the show’s assistant director/choreographer. The children in the cast range in age from 8 to 13 and include local
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Front center on steps: Abbey Cookus-Gnoinski. From left: Grace Ross, Evan Barrett, Giuliana Schineller, Mary Sinclair, Makayla Neel, Aiden Hart, Rebecca Lovett, Rebecca Frey, Emily Rowe and Sarina Rowe.
residents Evan Barrett of Moosic and Rebecca Lovett of Duryea. LaChette estimated that about half of the camp’s participants have attended it before. “The older ones are really good about helping the younger ones, and that’s what it’s all about,” she said. For three weeks, the kids attend camp Monday through Friday for five hours. In addition to learning lines and getting ready for the on-stage action, participants have painted the backdrop, worked on sets and created costumes and title cards for the scenes. “They put a lot of input into it,” LaChette said. “It’s their show.” With a smaller group such as the camp, the children can learn a lot more about their characters as well as what goes into putting together the technical aspects of a production, according to LaChette. In most shows, the ac-
tors don’t get to experience putting together costumes and sets because other people do that for them, she said. And that gives the kids other alternatives for the future. If they try out for a show, LaChette said, they know ahead of time that if they don’t get a role, they could work backstage instead. “In this camp, you get to do everything. … There were a couple of (kids) that really enjoyed doing the artwork, and it’s like, well, great, maybe someday they’ll be designing our backdrops,” she said. “Some of their (title) cards that they made were really, really cool.” And the kids experiencing the camp for the first time also might have found a place where they can return again and again. “The newer ones, they’re loving every minute of it,” LaChette said. “They’re already asking, ‘What’s the next show we can be in?’”