STAGING DREAMS

IF YOU’VE EVER HUNG AROUND A CROWD OF THEATER PEOPLE, YOU’VE EXPERIENCED THAT DYNAMIC COMBINATION OF CREATIVITY AND ENERGY. THEY SPARKLE, THEY DANCE, THEY EMOTE. THEY EXUDE ENERGY. THEY CAN BE QUITE SCARY TO THE MERE MORTALS IN THE CROWD

ENTER JENNIFER DOUGLAS. Douglas is now in her fourth year as executive director of New Day Children’s Theatre and serves as a perfect example of the kind of dynamo necessary for the operation of any theater, particularly a community-based children’s theater.

Douglas admits that she came from “humble beginnings,” and if not for the opportunities offered by the Lucille Ewing Children’s Theater of Memphis, she might not have ever found her passion for dancing and the path that would lead her to the Memphis Ballet Youth program. “That theater offered me the only chance I would have had to be involved,” she says. She understands the stage dreams of an eight-year-old.

Dance and theater would take a side step as Douglas went from college to career. For ten years, she served as a critical care nurse, and it was there that she developed a deep understanding of what it means to really care. “I learned so much about life,” she remembers.

Douglas would need to draw from a deep well of talents and experience if she were to handle the directorship of New Day when she took the reins in 2020. “I had never written a grant,” she says. “I had never created programs.”

But she loved New Day, and she had been an active parent and volunteer since 2007 when the first of her three sons began a trek onto the stage. Additionally, she was heavily involved behind the scenes with productions and coordinating fundraising events.

New Day Children’s Theater was founded in 2006 by Leanne Chasteen, who saw the theater grow from borrowed space at a local church into a multi-room facility housed at Carriage Crossing. But Covid took center stage in early 2020. The theatre struggled. And struggled. Finally, Covid took its exit. New Day saw new light. These days, Douglas finds great assistance from another long-time volunteer, Jamie Baccus, who serves as CFO.

Now, the energy is evident, not only by the list of classes and performances, but by the shine in Jennifer Douglas’s eyes, and she smiles a lot when she talks about New Day. She’s proud of what they offer young thespians from the area. “It’s not just Collierville students we serve,” she says. }We have students involved from 20 different schools, 25 different ZIP codes, and five counties.” No wonder the word is out.

The theatre offers a variety of instruction for all developmental stages, from 4 to 18, including their Little Stars program (ages 4 to 6) that teaches creative movement for coordination and balance. Victoria’s Summer Stock, a free summer mainstage production in partnership with the Town of Collierville, offers an opportunity for students who may be too busy during the school year to participate. New Day’s “Bringing Life to Literacy” sends a visiting artist into a Pre-K classroom four times a year, where story time is blended with theater activities. The program had been created initially to serve Pre-K students in Collierville but has been expanded to serve Pre-K students at Hope House in Memphis.

New Day produces three plays a year, performed at the Harrell Theater. Glancing through the scrapbook of past plays, you’ll see a wide range of offerings — some not-so-surprising for children’s theater — Seussical or Charlotte’s Web, to those a bit more mature, such as Les Misérables or Into the Woods.

Often seen as a model for other children’s theater programs across the country, New Day is particularly attentive to the needs of their audiences. Their “sensitive- friendly performances” address the needs of children with sensory processing differences, such as autism. Some children find loud noises and lighting changes during a performance unsettling. New Day responds to such needs. Lighting in the theater is kept on, but at a low level, and strobe lighting and sound levels are reduced to avoid startling effects. The theater provides plenty of space for standing and movement, as attendees can move about and leave their seats, and designated quiet spaces are available for those who need a break.

New Day offers six summer camps in three different timeframes for young performers between the ages of 6 and 13. The camps tantalize with names that are certain to connect with junior thespians: Aladdin Kids Summer Camp; Finding Nemo, Jr. Summer Camp, and Junie B. Jones Summer Camp. New Day chooses their staff and teachers carefully, interviewing each person, and running background checks. “The safety of our students is our primary concern,” they state plainly on their website, and a detailed “rules and codes of conduct” is followed.

It’s a full basket of theater opportunities for the youth of Collierville, and Jennifer Douglas and the cadre of New Day Children’s Theater staff and volunteers have a world of youthful dreams to be fulfilled. No doubt, they’ll get there. The show must go on.