As a former theater major, I like to support theater at every level, from Christmas nativity plays to Broadway productions and everything in between. Here in the Rogue Valley in Southern Oregon, we have an embarrassment of riches which include the world-renowned and Tony Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which just opened its 90th season; a number of smaller professional companies which stage revues, musicals, comedies and dramas year-round; community theater productions; and university and high school shows.

Recently, over the course of two consecutive weekends, I was able to take in two musicals performed by teenagers, both of which impressed me with the quality of the productions, given the ages and experience level of the actors. The first was Hadestown: Teen Edition,  staged by Teen Musical Theater of Oregon, the youth theater program of Craterian Performances of our local performing arts center in Medford. The program has been in existence for nearly 20 years, offering performance classes and staging productions (usually three or four full musicals a year). The age range for performers for most shows is 12–19, although some casts allow younger performers aged 9–11, while the creative team (directors, choreographers, designers, stage managers) is made up of adults with long careers in professional theater, television and film. Once cast in a production, players pay a substantial participation fee, and family members are expected to contribute volunteer hours as well.

This was my first TMTO production, and we were excited to see our friends and neighbors’ granddaughter in the role of Eurydice, her first role for TMTO. My husband and I had seen her perform as Louisa in a recent local production of The Sound of Music. We had also seen her in middle school productions of Newsies and Disney’s The Descendants, so we were aware of what a talented and mature young lady of 15 she is. However, we were completely blown away by the strength and purity of her voice and, indeed, that of all of the principal performers in this current show. I have not seen the Broadway production of Hadestown, but those at the performance who had that I spoke with assured me that this production was as professional in all aspects as that, and I can attest to the quality matching any show I have seen at OSF and most Broadway shows I’ve seen. I would not be at all surprised to see some of these young performers one day in the not-too-distant future making a living on the stage or the big screen. Now that I’ve seen what they can do, I will certainly be looking forward to future shows from TMTO.

The following weekend, we attended a middle school production of Seussical the Musical.  We again had a personal interest in the show: Our neighbors’ two younger granddaughters (sisters to Miss Eurydice) had roles in it. One of our school district’s middle schools boasts a very robust drama club, thanks to teacher Rebecca Campbell, who has built up a strong program with lots of enthusiastic participants over many years. Her musicals are always full-length productions with complete sets, clever staging, choreography and quality costumes. Most impressive to me, I think, having taught at the middle school level, is the large number of kids she casts in her shows. This play had to have had at least three dozen performers, and they participated in large production numbers with plenty of dancing and lots of costume changes. I can only imagine supervising rehearsals for that bunch must have been like herding a gang of high-energy cats, but whatever magic Ms. Campbell employed, it worked. True, even with mics it was sometimes difficult to catch all the lyrics, and these young voices were not consistently strong or perfectly on key, but they gave it their all and performed with a lot of heart and enthusiasm. It’s a cute story, and my two grandsons, ages 7 and 10, were thoroughly engaged for the entire two-hour play.

Following each of these productions, I came away with a great appreciation for the talent these young people shared with their audiences as well as for the adults who teach and nurture them. I will always happily support programs that help young singers and actors hone their skills and realize their dreams of performing for an audience.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor