Children’s Musical Theater gets new digs ready for season
After wrapping a threeshow summer repertory, Children’s Musical Theater San Jose is finally getting settled into its new digs. The company moved into its Creative Arts Center on Parkmoor Avenue in April, but quickly had to shift focus to set up a stage in its parking lot for its shows in July.
“We got city approval on May 4 and held auditions on May 5,” CMT Managing Director Dana Zell said of the run-up to the outdoor shows.
The company built a theater in the round that sat 200 for its productions of “Snoopy! The Musical,” which featured performers ages 7-10, “Starlight Express,” with youth ages 10-14 and “American Idiot,” with people ages 14-20.
“We had 200 kids in shows and 400 in camps this summer, all safe and in masks,” Zell said.
That these young performers and their parents, who are called on to volunteer behind the scenes with CMT, felt comfortable participating reflects the culture of the company, she said.
“There were definitely some that weren’t ready, but for the kids who were able to participate, I think they walked away feeling good and safe. It was necessary for those kids to be together in this community,” she said.
CMT staff and volunteers have spent the month since the shows closed shoring up the center’s costume and scene shops and prepping the five studio spaces for rehearsals and classes, as well as auditions for “Disney’s Frozen Jr.” today. Barring any COVID-19 restrictions on indoor performances, the 7- to 11-yearold performers in that show should take to the Montgomery Theater stage in downtown San Jose Nov. 3-7 to open CMT’s 54th season.
Rehearsals for that and other shows will take place in one of two studios in the Creative Arts Center that have the same dimensions as the Montgomery Theater’s stage, with the stage’s layout painted on the spring foam floor so performers can get a feel for the space.
At 25,000 square feet, the center — at the site of a former Savers thrift store at 1545 Parkmoor Ave. in San Jose — is a little smaller than CMT’s old digs, but Zell said the layout of the building makes up for it in terms of efficiency.
“The old space had 14,000 square feet of rehearsal space and a separate 14,000 warehouse,” she said.
With rehearsal and shop space both under one roof, Zell said, “Parents can drop their kids off and come straight back here to help.”
For more information on Children’s Musical Theater San Jose’s 54th season, go to cmtsj.org.