YOUTH BE TOLD ...
Rainbow Company explores growing up in Las Vegas in ‘(W)Rites of Passage’
Every child, every teenager, every human being who ever has inhabited that space between childhood and adulthood knows that there are times when a kid’s life is nothing but pure drama.
So what better way to deal with the ups and downs of youthdom than turning them into a theater production?
That’s the idea — well, sort of — behind “(W)Rites of Passage,” a Rainbow Company Youth Theatre ensemble show that will be presented Friday and Saturday at the Sammy Davis Jr. Festival Plaza in Lorenzi Park, 720 Twin Lakes Drive. Showtime is 7 p.m., and the shows are free and open to the public.
For more information, visit www. artslasvegas.org or call 702-229-6553.
The show will feature Rainbow Company’s student ensemble, whose members range in age from 10 to 18, and Karen McKenney-Dyer, Rainbow Company’s artistic director, says the show will feature about 40 scenes revolving around “the unique experience of growing up in Las Vegas.”
All of the pieces were written by student ensemble members or Clark County School District students, and all are being produced, directed and performed by ensemble members.
Some of the pieces are unique to Las Vegas, like the 9-year-old girl who got a limo ride to her birthday, McKenney-Dyer says, and some are just things that could happen anywhere.
The production will be presented in the style of story theater, for which scenery is minimal and costumes are suggestive, McKenney-Dyer says.
“So they’ll all be in a single look and add to the pieces of costumes and props things they thought were absolutely necessary for the character.”
Similarly, music, some of it live and some of it performed by students, will be used for transitions and underscoring, based on students’ judgments of how it might be most effective.
Basically, McKenney-Dyer says, “I’m trying to guide them, but have it be their show.”
The scenes will cover the breadth of young people’s coming of age experiences, from handling homework to seeing a brother
The production will be presented in the style of story theater, for which scenery is minimal and costumes are suggestive,
Rainbow Company’s artistic director Karen McKenney-Dyer says.