Workshop introduces area students to theater

Getting younger people more interested and involved in the performing arts is the focus of a youth theater workshop being presented this week through the combined efforts of Beck-Bookman Library, Holton Community Theatre and the Northeast Kansas Library System.

“Some kids like to perform at school concerts, and we’ve got a lot of kids in dance classes,” Holton Community Theatre director Shannon Wittmer said. “We just thought we’d try something new and open it up for everybody.”

As a result, Wittmer said more than 45 youngsters in second through sixth grades are participating in the first Summer Theatre Workshop, with classes alternating between the library and the Holton High School commons area. The workshop will culminate with a performance of “The Big Bad Musical” at 10 a.m. Friday at the library, she added.

But Wittmer is working to get even more young people involved in the musical, which she hopes to present again before school starts. Auditions will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at Penny’s on the west side of Holton’s Town Square for kids in second through eighth grades for participation in a future production of “The Big Bad Musical.”

With help from library board member Inga Kelly and a full cast of adult and student volunteers, the first workshop — which Wittmer said she hopes will become an annual event — has been “a blast,” Wittmer noted.

“With this workshop, we limited it to second through sixth grades,” she added. “Some of the kids have a few parts that are pretty lengthy.”

During the week-long workshop, students have a chance to learn the basics of theater, including stage direction, stage presence, characters, scripts, props, sound effects, choreography, improvisational games and creating a story into a script and then into a short play.

Library director Candee Jacobs said the library got involved with the theater workshop through the NEKLS Destination Library project, which was initiated “to have libraries think outside the box” and explore opportunities for partnering with community groups and organizations.

“Once a need was established, the library board looked at ways we could facilitate a program,” Jacobs said. “Inga wrote the grant for the workshop, it was approved, and we were off and running.”

Like Wittmer, Kelly’s involvement in the workshop also stemmed from a desire to get more young people interested in the performing arts.

“Last summer, I took my daughter to Omaha to participate in a children’s theater camp for her birthday gift,” Kelly said. “Every day as I picked her up, I thought it would be awesome if there was a way we could do something like this closer to home. After visiting with Shannon, it was clear I wasn’t the only person who thought this crazy idea could work.”

And so far, Wittmer said, it’s been working well.

“We all have different talents, and we all just kind of step in and do what we’re good at,” she said. “It all blends together.”

Friday’s performance at the library is open to the public, it was noted.