theHword.com

Over the next few months, TheHWord.com will feature blog posts related to a theatre production being presented by the Hastings Junior Community Theatre (HJCT). This group will be performing “Higher”, an original play written by Superior, Nebraska, native AP Andrews. A number of authors will document their experience on TheHWord.com, including Christine Cottam, HJCT director; and several students involved in the production.

“What’s really behind the curtain at HJCT.”

To the audience’s eye, the glamour of theatre is entertaining, enticing and entrancing.

Yet when you strip away the costumes sewn with safety pins and Velcro, the flats with duct-taped seams, the props held together with super glue and spit, and the curtains held aloft by a prayer, it all boils down to one thing.

Relationships.

What you see onstage in performance is only a fraction of the relationships forged over two months of rehearsals. Working together 2-3 hours a night for 6-8 weeks, you get past each other’s quirks. By the end of a run, cast and crew are like one big (rather dysfunctional) family.

The driving and unifying force behind theatre people is simple – put on a show or die trying. It’s hard work that demands team players to pull together all the different elements. If a show flops, the repercussions are the severest of all – public humiliation.

It is this entire concept of relationships that intrigued me from the start of working in theatre. And it is what I have found in working with teens/young adults at Hastings Junior Community Theatre.

I love teens. I love their enthusiasm for life. They are poised on the very cusp of adulthood, unfettered by the cynicism and realities that seem to settle in as an adult. They are open to new ideas and have no problem dreaming big.

“Play to your strengths” was a saying I grew up with. My goal is to help these teens discover their talents and utilize their strengths using theatre as a medium. I work with an extraordinary group of these students who hail from Hastings, Harvard, Clay Center, Sandy Creek, and Superior.

There’s Shea, who cut her teeth on the stage of HCT at the tender age of five. Now a college freshman, Shea is a director-in-training for HJCT. She’s part of a group of recent Adams Central High School graduates coming back to help at HJCT this summer. This includes Addison the awesome creator of posters who knows all the latest musicals; Larisa the sweetheart that everyone loves; Alyssa the artist who thinks in large scale and wears shoes to be jealous of; and Liz who may seem quiet but is really not.

Then there’s the theatre regulars – Austin who entertains everyone by singing musical theatre songs (complete with dance moves); Emily the official photographer who knows how to cleverly clash her clothes; and Katlin who has a penchant for anything flapper style. Of course, I can’t forget to mention the comedians – Tony, Brendan and Matt. There’s never a dull moment onstage with them around.

These are just a few of the young people who’ll be blogging this summer during our Student Directed One Acts. What is also exciting is having a show being written especially for HJCT!

The playwright, A.P. Andrews, is a Superior native who spent quite a bit of time at HCT before leaving for New York University. While visiting home last summer, Anthony and I were discussing his playwriting work in classes when the idea popped into my head – why not write a show for our group? Anthony knew these teens and had worked with them, knew what they were capable of. And I wanted a show that tackled teens being, well, teens and all the snafus that can involve.

Thankfully, Anthony took the idea and ran with it. The product will be ‘Higher,’ a look at the realities of teenage life.

The other show we’re doing is ‘Illinois Jane and the Pyramid of Peril,’ a delightful spoof of Indiana Jones. Production dates are June 4-5.

Each time I work with these teens, I learn something new and establish more relationships. The funny thing is, these relationships are starting to have a direct impact on our theatre. Those teens growing into young adults are returning to help apply the superglue, fasten the Velcro, and wield the powers of duct tape. It’s inspiring to see the torch passing on.

The Student Directed One Acts auditions are 7-8:30 p.m. May 3-4 at HCT. Casting is open to all high school teens (2009-2010 school year).

About the author: Christine Cottam

Christine Cottam’s life is regularly interrupted with bursts of spontaneous song and dance. She teaches voice in her privately owned Studio C and is a music and theatre student at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Christine is the chair for the Hastings Junior Community Theatre where she also directs summer theatre for teens. She lives with her husband, two kids, two cats, two frogs, and one freakishly fast snail.