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By Cameron Small
Hometowk Weekly Intern
Most thespians know the horrors of tech week, commonly dubbed Hell Week, the week in which everything comes together (in theory) before a show opens. The technical crew of sound and lights meets with the actors who’ve been rehearsing for months, mixed with the stage crew responsible for set changes and making sure props are where they need to be. It’s a long, exhausting week with high tensions, increased irritability, and bated breath from all involved. And that’s before something goes wrong.
Luckily, it’s only one week, then the show goes on and everyone can breathe again.
But what if you only had that one week to do everything? What if, instead of your actors rehearsing for months beforehand, they only got their script at the beginning of the week? And they needed to learn all of their lines and the songs? If the set needed to be built? Costumes designed, created and fitted?
This second scenario of only having tech week is the reality of The Children’s Company, the one-week intensive musical theater program offered by the Westwood Recreation Department.
Taryn Crocker, the Business Manager of the Westwood Recreation Department, says the musical theater program offered every summer is one of, if not the, most popular summer activity. “We started off with a couple of weeks, and now we’re up to six weeks this summer. And they fill up as fast as they go online.”
Each week, The Children’s Company does a different show. Scott Gagnon and Jason Whiting co-direct all of the shows. Six weeks, six shows, and a possible 25 new kids every week. Several kids do multiple weeks, and come back year after year.
Kayla M., who played Agwe, the goddess of water, in this week’s production of “Once on this Island,” says she has been in six shows over the years now with The Children’s Company. Her younger sister, Brooke (who played Young Ti Moune), has also done six shows. Kayla’s favorite part is getting to act and sing with her friends. Brooke loves the performing part of it, and is excited that she still has two more summers in which she remains eligible for The Children’s Company (the age limit for the program is students past seventh grade).
This week’s production of “Once on this Island” is the fourth week of shows The Children’s Company has performed this summer. The one-act play tells the story of Ti Moune, who is saved by the gods as a child and eventually proves that love is stronger than death. Earlier in the summer, the Company performed “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” “Back to the 80s,” and “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” In the last two weeks of the program, the Company will do another rendition of “Willy Wonka,” and a rendition of “Grease.”
Crocker voices what most people are probably thinking: “It’s amazing the transformation you’ll see from the first day when you come in and the kids are just reading their scripts, to now where they have their lines memorized, they’re singing songs, they’re dancing around…it’s just so exciting seeing the transformation and how it happens.” She also speculates the Company could run a show every week of the summer and they wouldn’t have an issue filling up.
For only having a week to rehearse and get ready, the performance exceeds expectations. There were no noticeable pauses as kids tried to remember lines, no missed entrances or exits, no jumping lines and doubling back. If there were, they were well hidden by the young thespians.
Who knows what shows The Children’s Company will perform next year? All we know is that if you want to be a part of the magic of live theater, register early.
