“Amelia Bedelia” on a marquee is sure to pack a theater with kids, said C. Wayne Hoffman, director of Story Salad Productions, a national touring company based in New York City that acts out Amelia stories on stage.
The troupe stopped by Raue Center for the Arts in Crystal Lake for a two-day engagement as part of the center’s School Series.
“Amelia is a character in a book by the late Peggy Parish who takes every word she reads literally,” Hoffman said.
“Kids just learning to read often take things literally. Language is confusing, and many young kids find word play hysterical.”
About 1,500 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders from Crystal Lake, Cary and Woodstock attended two sold-out shows at the center.
They whooped when recognizing characters from books they had read–Amelia and other storybook characters that were part of the troupe’s act.
Sarah Coleman, 8, who attends Maplewood School in Cary, was in the audience. She’s a fan of the “Amelia Bedelia” stories. She liked the part where the actress playing Amelia searched for the fork in the road and couldn’t find it and wondered if she ought to be looking for a spoon in the road instead.
“I do mix up some of my words, too, like `there,'” Coleman said. “You can spell it T-H-E-I-R or T-H-E-R-E.”
Julie Radetski, a 2nd-grade teacher at Maplewood, turned the field trip to the show into a writing assignment, asking pupils to write about their experiences.
“We learned how to make shows. We learned a song. I learned that they were acting out the stories. I learned about new books that some of us never heard of before,” wrote Victoria Pierce, 8.
“We went on a field trip with our book buddies,” wrote Jessica Bartczyszyn, 8. “We saw Amelia Bedelia. … I liked [the character of] Jessica [from the book “Jessica,” by Kevin Henkes] the best. … I learned that acting was fun. It looked [as if] there were stars on the ceiling [of the theater], but they were lights.”
(“Jessica” is about 5-year-old Ruthie, who has an imaginary friend she has named Jessica. Grown-ups discourage Ruthie from speaking with this imaginary friend and tell her she can’t go to school with her, but she takes her anyway. On the first day of kindergarten, she meets a little girl whose name is Jessica. They become best friends.)
Study guides are mailed to the schools three weeks before each play or performance in the School Series. They contain information that can be used for pre- or post-show discussions and activities.
The series has two components: in-school performances and field trips to the center for shows.
The center’s outreach program, which this school year will be called 2003-04 Mission Imagination, allows a school to book an act for $400.
For example, the Diavolo Dance Theater from Los Angles came to town in March. Besides the one public performance and two performances for students at the center, the troupe performed at 12 area schools.
The outreach program is subsidized through donations and grants, said Holly Richard, assistant director at Raue who runs the School Series. It cost $30,000 to bring the dance troupe to town, she said.
“We bring the artists to the schools,” Richard said. “It’s done to make artists more accessible and make the students more comfortable. It broadens understanding of the arts, and it also helps groom future audiences.”
Last school year, about 22,000 elementary and high-school students saw Raue-sponsored performances; about 10,000 attended shows during the 2001-02 school year, the program’s first.
The first year, there were 11 performances at schools and 14 at the center.
For this school year, the center is planning 30 performances in schools and 18 at the center.
Self-preservation is a reason why the center promotes the theater as a destination for school field trips.
The goal is to create a generation of theatergoers who will support the center in coming decades, Richard said.
“We want to make live theater available for everyone, especially children,” said Susen Berg, vice president of the center’s board of directors. “For the admission price of $5, children–many of whom would never be able to watch a live performance–can watch one here.”
The theater that later became the Raue Center left a lasting impression on Berg when she was a small girl, she said.
The El Tovar–the center’s original name–was built in 1929 in the Spanish-mission style as a vaudeville stop and movie house.
The interior of the theater, which has been fully restored, was made to look like a Spanish town with doorways, windows and balconies. The ceiling was painted blue and studded with tiny light bulbsarranged like stars in the night sky–the same ceiling “sky” that captivated 8-year-old Jessica Bartczyszyn years later.
Berg said as a girl she imagined people lived in the town and stayed inside their houses and watched movies free through their windows. She imagined that one day they would come outside and she’d meet children from the town and make friends with them.
“It was a place where a little girl could come to dream,” Berg said. “It was a vivid experience coming to this atmospheric place. It’s come back to life, and I’m happy to be a part of it all.
“I’ve always loved the theater. It gives people different views of the world; it gives people a chance to identify with characters on stage.
“Take `Amelia Bedelia.’ The kids see themselves up there, identifying with a character who gets her words mixed up. … The theater becomes a part of you.”
Hannah Froberg, 8, was one of the 2nd graders in Radetski’s class. She wrote this about her theater experience:
“People acted out the stories as characters in the book. They were exciting books. It was fun to see the show.”
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Raue Center for the Arts
Address: 26 N. Williams St., Crystal Lake
Phone: 815-356-9010
Web site: www.rauecenter.org
Box office: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. The box office opens one hour prior to each performance. 815-356-9212. There is a $3 handling fee for online orders.
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Next School Series wants kids to imagine these shows
The third season of the School Series at the Raue Center for the Arts will start in November and run through May.
The 2003-04 Mission Imagination shows at the center will include:
– Robert Tree Cody, a Native American flutist, dancer and educator. Scheduled for Nov. 10-14.
– A musical called “Miss Nelson is Missing,” about a good-natured teacher who disappears and is replaced by Viola Swamp, the most feared substitute ever. It will be presented by the Omaha Theater Co. Scheduled for Feb. 5-7.
– Lazer Vaudeville, which will feature black-light illusions, acrobats, comedy and audience participation. The emphasis is on the time and dedication that is needed for juggling. Scheduled for March 1-5.
– Vishten, a show with French, Irish and Scottish styles of dancing. Scheduled for April 19-23.
– “And Then They Came for Me,” a program with videotaped interviews with Holocaust survivors and friends of Anne Frank. The multimedia presentation also will have live dramatic action, re-creating the lives of families in hiding and those in concentration camps. Scheduled for April 29-30.
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For more information on the School Series, call Holly Richard at 815-356-9010.
