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The Dalles Civic Kids Children’s Theater participants celebrate their final dress rehearsal for “Seussical jr.” with cake and snacks in the Fireside Room at The Dalles Civic Auditorium.
The Dalles Civic Kids Children’s Theater participants (from left to right) Olivia Crowe, Riley Stocks, Melody Tanner, and Eleanor Vining sit in the Fireside Room at The Dalles Civic Auditorium.
The Dalles Civic Kids Children’s Theater participants celebrate their final dress rehearsal for “Seussical jr.” with cake and snacks in the Fireside Room at The Dalles Civic Auditorium.
Does your little one have a flare for drama or like to sing? Do they like telling stories or participating in projects? Do they simply want to have fun with kids their age while learning some new things? No matter what skill level or experience, all kids are welcome and invited to participate in The Dalles Civic Kids Children’s theater program.
The Dalles Civic kids children theater is a community-based theater program open to children in grades three through six in the Columbia Gorge area. In operation for the last three years, their previous performances include “Honk jr.,” a musical adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen fable “The Ugly Duckling,” and “Annie jr.,” a children’s theatre adaptation of the Broadway musical “Annie,” which was based on the 1920s comic strip “Little Orphan Annie.” Most recently, the group staged a production of “Seussical jr.,” a children’s theater adaptation of “Seussical the Musical,” a musical based on classic Dr. Seuss stories and characters.
The group’s first production, “Honk jr.” was set to premiere March of 2020. It was in that same month that COVID-19 restrictions began going into effect. Skot Barker, executive director of The Dalles Civic Auditorium, said in a March 12, 2020 video shared on The Dalles Civic Auditorium Facebook page, “We have been under state mandate by Governor Brown not to hold events over 250 people at one place at one time. That said, we’re going to follow that mandate and continue to do our presentations here,” said Barker in the 2020 video, “we will limit the doors to be just under that 250 mark, and giving people a wide-spread opportunity to sit at a little bit of a distance from each other, but yet still see an amazing play.”
“Honk jr.” finished its last performance on March 15, 2020, and on March 16, Governor Kate Brown’s initial statewide closure of K-12 Oregon schools officially went into effect.
According to “Team Seussical,” co-directors of the group’s most recent production “Seussical jr.,” consisting of Gail Farris, Nancy Moon, and Jenny Jenkins, along with Mary Stocks, the group took careful precautions while operating under COVID-19 guidelines, including following distancing requirements by blocking scenes so actors would be standing six feet apart from each other, asking parents to keep their children home if they were not feeling well or had been exposed to COVID-19, taking temperatures before children entered the auditorium, utilizing hand sanitizer before entering or leaving the building and before going on or off stage, as well as disinfecting common use surfaces such as seating, props, and doorknobs. The kids rehearsed in masks or with face shields while required, though with parent permission, were allowed to remove them for the performance of “Annie jr.”
“The distancing rule … I think as a director was the biggest challenge is the six-foot spacing on stage,” said Farris, “mask or no mask that’s always been a challenge.”
The Dalles Civic Kids Children’s Theater participants (from left to right) Olivia Crowe, Riley Stocks, Melody Tanner, and Eleanor Vining sit in the Fireside Room at The Dalles Civic Auditorium.
Kelsie Cowart photo
Despite the challenges, the organization managed to hold every show from “Honk Jr.” to “Seussical” as scheduled. “The show will go on,” said Farris.
According to Team Seussical, children gain several skills while participating in theater. Along with learning the basics of acting and how to portray a character through techniques such as learning about mannerisms, receiving vocal lessons and learning choreography, children also pick up practical skills such as reading advancement, vocabulary expansion, public speaking confidence, and teamwork.
“I think they get an appreciation for the art,” said co-director and stage manager Jenny Jenkins, “they come in here thinking actors just get up and recite lines. So, they have to learn character and mannerisms and things that you don’t think about as being part of acting necessarily, especially if you’re a child.”
A major benefit noticed by Team Seussical was the chance for participating children to have in-person social interactions with other kids, particularly when schooling was held online. “They were craving it,” said Farris.
Emotions play a key role in theater and performance, and according to Farris, since the pandemic participating children have been more than ready to share theirs. “You can’t do theater without discussing emotions and feelings, and that’s always difficult,” Farris said, “but once you do, it’s like opening a can of worms with these kids. They are so hungry to share feelings they’ve kept inside.”
“Last year, one of our cast members … she said, ‘while I was here, I could forget all about COVID,’” shared co-director Nancy Moon, “that just hit me as ‘wow’ … that’s why we did it.”
Nine-year-old cast member Olivia Crowe, who played Mrs. Mayor in “Seussical jr.” and has been a part of the program for two years, shared that she liked that the theater program helped her with “not being afraid,” and “meeting new people.”
“You can learn projection skills, and public speaking skills,” said 13-year-old Holly Ott, who played the Sour Kangaroo and has participated in the program for all three years, “It’s really fun.”
When asked about how they choose which productions to put on, Farris said they try to select plays that have “good, strong messages” in them, with her and Jenkins noting how “Seussical jr.” touched on themes such as bullying and changing one’s appearance for the acceptance of others. Farris also said she preferred to “stick with musicals” for young children, “I don’t think there’s anything sweeter than watching your 11-year-old child go up there and sing a solo for the first time in front of 200 people. Who couldn’t be proud? Who cares if they hit the right note? It’s not about picking the best singers, it's just exposure to the arts.”
Team Seussical wanted to recognize and thank the board of directors for The Dalles Civic auditorium for their continued support of the program, “we are so fortunate here. They don’t charge us for the use of the theater, we could not begin to rent this, because our production goes start to finish probably 12 weeks normally … so we are so lucky,” said Farris. They also wanted to thank their parent volunteers who supported the program by helping care for and provide snacks for all the participating kids.
If you have a child who would like to participate in the theater program, you can reach out to The Dalles Civic Auditorium at 541-298-8533 and leave your name, phone number and email address, after which you will be contacted the next time the program is holding auditions. There is a $75 fee to participate, though there is financial aid available to those who qualify.
The program is also seeking volunteers for backstage assistance, “We struggled this year, because we lost some main people,” said Farris, “In order for the program to continue, we’re going to have to have people step up as volunteers, because we were all a little overextended this year.”
Those interested can also reach out to the Civic for details.
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