Adults benefit from youth theater as well

Last week in this space, I wrote about how theater education has many benefits for our young thespians beyond just getting them off the couch.

Turns out — when they are a part of the team putting it together — adults get something out of youth theater as well.

Such is the case for director Jocelyn Laracuente and her production of “Aladdin” for the Elementary Drama Workshop at Geauga Lyric Theater Guild. Their performances are at 7:30 p.m. July 13 and 14, and 2 p.m. July 15, at the GLTG theater, 101 Water St. in Chardon. Admission is $6.

Laracuente has performed on stage for GLTG in numerous productions, including “Leading Ladies” and “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying” as well as “Julius Caesar” at Rubber City Theatre. She also has directed “Another Way Out” by Laurence Langner and “The Impostures of Scapin,” which was adapted from the original work of Molieré by Amanda Rogus, both at Wittenberg University.

But Laracuente admits that working with our area young thespians has its own rewards.

“I have always been drawn to working with children, in particular teaching them new skills in the theater,” Laracuente tells me. “This project in particular felt like a good way to introduce many kids to this world of theater in which you can be a little emotional or loud, with new friends and new skills, in an environment that pushes you to be responsible for yourself and your work.”

“Aladdin and The Magical Lamp” by Tim Kelly has a number of different acting styles, according to Laracuente, making it a good workshop piece.

“It is a wonderful show to boost the confidence and ability of every actor,” Laracuente says. “GLTG has shown it really has a strong commitment to teaching others and that is why I felt drawn to this project.”

The Elementary Drama Workshop serves 7- to 12-year-olds, which can result in what Laracuente calls “a pretty large span between those who have just started working on reading fluency and soon-to-be middle-school students.”That reality requires directors to take a big-picture approach.

“When working with this age, you really have to work on the group dynamic,” Laracuente says. “They will want to clump up and only make friends with a few campers. To counteract that, we play plenty of group games and try to mix up who they work with. Another piece of information you should keep in mind when working with this group is they need break time and when they are working, they need to be active. While the 12-yearolds may be able to hold out for an hour and a half with a nonstructured break system, the 7-year-olds will lose focus and become inhibitors to progress. As long as you can keep the group focused and active you have some wonderful hard workers.”

As a longtime theater camp director myself, I can attest to the truth of Laracuente’s comments.

See! I told you all those fireball games were for something!

Still, after the games, the production always awaits. This requires teaching as well as directing.

“The main things we are currently working on is character development and how to stay in character,” Laracuente says. “When you watch this show, my goal is to have the actors come across as real people. It is easy enough to memorize some words, but to change the way you say them based on who is around you takes practice.”

Catch the GLTG young thespians this week and see what they have learned.

Have a show you’d like to see profiled in Young Thespians? Message Steve Couch @StevenRCouch on Twitter, via e-mail at stevecouch@windstream. net, or post in our Young Thespians Facebook group.