Drama Works: An Interview With Becca McCray and Lucas Adams
Last summer, for the first time, Music Theatre Louisville and Stage One combined their camps for youngsters ages 4 to 18 into a single program known as DramaWorks. The two organizations began working together several years ago under the umbrella of the Louisville Theatrical Association, with Peter Holloway providing both artistic and fiscal leadership. Two years ago, Peter expanded his staff to welcome two enthusiastic young educators who reflect the dual mission of the organization, which is to produce great theatre that educates while it entertains. Sitting in the empty classroom on the second floor of the ArtSpace building the day before DramaWorks launched its 2010 season, Lucas Adams and Becca McCray discussed their goals for the weeks ahead and the preparatory work that goes into creating an effortless experience for the kids.
SD: Are you both from Louisville?
BM: I’m not; I moved here from Vermont for my job.
SD: You are the Director of Programming, a position originally held by Dick Van Kleeck. Those are pretty big shoes to fill.
SD: Had you ever been to Louisville prior to your interview?
BM: No. It was a big change from New England.
SD: What did you do in Vermont?
BM: My background is in education. I taught for a little while before attending grad school at Emerson College, where I earned my master’s in theatre education. After that, I taught theatre at a boarding school. I wasn’t there very long before this opportunity presented itself and I moved here. It’s been a bit of a roller coaster, but it’s great to be in a position where I use my degree.
SD: Sorry about the weather.
BM: You know – I would much rather have a hot summer than a really cold, snowy winter.
SD: Do you come from a theatrical family?
BM: No, I wasn’t a big theatre person growing up. I loved watching musicals, and that’s what my mom generally bought me for Christmas or my birthday. My sisters and I did a lot of sports, but we were also in school plays. My theatre experience pretty much stopped in middle school. I was in one play in high school and took one intro theatre class so I could graduate from college.
SD: What made you decide to go for your master’s in theatre education?
BM: I took a post-graduate course called “How To Use Drama As a Teaching Tool” and I was implementing a lot of the ideas from the classes into my classroom teaching. The music teacher and I collaborated one year to stage a little play, and afterward she was so encouraging that I decided to find out if there was a master’s program in the area. Emerson offered it, and that’s how I ended up in Boston.
SD: Lucas, I hear you are a newlywed. Are you from this area?
LA: My family moved to Louisville from Virginia when I was seven. I grew up in Oldham County but spent a lot of time in downtown Louisville. One of my early memories of Louisville is actually seeing a Stage One production. I also remember getting lost trying to find Shakespeare in Central Park. I grew up doing theatre – I was a student for two years at Walden Theatre and they helped me get into Otterbein College, where I got my acting degree. I had big plans to go to New York but decided after living there for an internship that it wasn’t for me.
SD: What did you do next?
LA: I toured all around the country for six months with the Missoula Children’s Theatre. I came back to Louisville after that and taught at Walden Theatre and worked with Kentucky Shakespeare Festival for a year before taking the job with Music Theatre Louisville.
SD: I interviewed J. Daniel Herring almost twenty years ago when he started these summer theatre camps for Stage One. He created them from scratch. What did you find when you arrived in 2008?
LA: We knew that a lot of emphasis was put on the summer education programming, because we spend most of the year in the schools. This is a great way to incorporate children from ages 4 to 18 throughout the summer.
BM: During the school year, we don’t always get to work with every age group.
LA: So it was an important avenue for us to be able to develop some really interesting curriculum that we will never do during the school year. It is, of course, financially important to the organization, so we are fortunate that it is popular. It’s also important to a lot of kids who come year after year.
BM: Last summer was not only our first summer running the program, but it was the first year Stage One and Music Theatre Louisville combined their efforts into a single offering called DramaWorks.
SD: How did that impact your workload?
BM: It was helpful from an instructor’s standpoint because we weren’t running between the two; it was also helpful from a marketing perspective to have one identity for our summer programs.
SD: Speaking of the programs, there is a huge list of offerings that began in early June and continue through July 16. For instance, I see that in July, 4- to 6-year-olds can choose “Animal Adventures” or “Home on the Range.” You offer “Broadway Playground” and “Alien Adventures” for ages 7 and 8; and “Audition Techniques” for both 9- to 11-year-olds and the older kids, ages 12 to 18.
BM: With the youngest participants, we focus on creative drama. We take the natural creativity kids use during play and structure it around a theme: “Home on the Range” is just what you would think – a way to play cowboy/girl in the Wild West.
LA: They already play those sorts of games, so we’re helping them learn in a way that conceals the process.
SD: “Home on the Range” and the others are all one-week courses?
LA: Monday through Friday.
SD: But they stand alone; in other words, the earlier programs aren’t prerequisites for later classes.
BM: No, we have a lot of kids who take a week, then go out of town to visit Grandma and Grandpa and come home to pick up another program.
LA: “Happily Ever After: Knights and Princesses” is really popular. We try to do things kids are interested in. We remember what it’s like and we want to do these camps too! “Alien Adventures” came out of a brainstorming session when we decided we wanted to be aliens.
SD: So what will you do?
LA:We’ll be taking the kids on a flight to Nebular 7, where an evil lord has taken the three suns that give the planet its energy. On Monday we’ll get acquainted and find out what these 7- and 8-year-olds already know about space and what their interests are. We’ll help them begin to create a character using their actor tools: body, voice and imagination. By Wednesday, they will be ready for their first hour-long mission; as the week progresses, those missions will become more difficult and thought-provoking.
SD: Do you think there will be any problem choosing a Captain?
LA: No, because that will be Becca or me. You always need to have someone to maintain the structure and keep it flowing, and we’ve become adept at that.
SD: I’m looking at the “Audition Techniques” classes for the older participants and it strikes me that this is also a great benefit for Stage One and Music Theatre Louisville.
BM: That is pretty much why it’s there. We want to help them take the tools and talents they have and present them well in a proper audition format. It is a good way to build a student’s confidence level.
LA: We also work a lot with them on material selection. We help them choose a monologue that is age appropriate and that shows the people who are casting what they need to see. There’s no reason for an 11-year-old girl to read a mono-logue as a 95-year-old man – she’s never going to be cast that way.
BM: But it’s not just the monologue and the 16 bars you sing; it’s also how you come into the room and how you say your name, because the directors are creating a cast that can work together on and off stage.
BM: Absolutely. We always try to emphasize that the people who are casting are actually your cheerleaders.
LA: We want you to succeed because you make our job easier.
SD: Do you work at all on their music, or just on the monologue?
LA: We answer questions, but we don’t spend a lot of time on music in the DramaWorks venue. It is covered more thoroughly in Broadway Boot Camp, and we have offered musical theatre workshops during the school year.
SD: Tell me about Camp Annie.
LA: During the last two weeks of July, we’re offering girls ages 8 to 14 the opportunity to come three days per week for three hours each day to Camp Annie. We had to break it up because we have so many young ladies who want to participate. It’s singing, dancing and acting training; but it is also the rehearsal process for participating in a large orphan chorus during the run of Annie (August 6-15).
BM: Each performance will have girls from that camp in the show.
SD: What is this huge orphan chorus?
LA: This is Peter Holloway’s brain child and we’ve been developing it. He knew that so many young ladies would audition that we would never be able to use them all. But with this, we can give them the experience of what it’s like not only to rehearse, but to perform. The combination of those two elements is the perfect realization of our mission.
SD: Of course, with Annie it’s limited to girls because of story requirements. But what is the general response to your programs? Do you see more boys than girls? Are certain age groups more interested than others?
BM: We see a more even ratio of participation in the younger classes. In the 7- to 8-year-olds, it really depends on the subject. Last year we did a “Super Heroes” camp and had a lot of boys in that one.
LA: “Happily Ever After” really appeals to the young ladies.
SD: And the one smart guy who knows Prince Charming is the best role in that scenario?
BM/LA: Exactly!
LA: And that’s the reason we try to offer a spectrum of entry points.
SD: We’ve mentioned Annie, which is the final production of the Music Theatre Louisville season. I understand, Lucas, that you will be the assistant director to Jim Hesselman for the second show, Nunsense, which runs July 16 to 25.
LA: I’ve been directing a little bit around town, but this is the biggest show I have been involved with in that role and I can’t wait.
SD: Becca, any chance we’ll see you at the helm of a main stage production one day?
BM: Nope. I am a behind-the-scenes person, and I like it that way. I stay busy writing the study guides and teaching the classes throughout the JCPS. I think I’ll keep my attention on education.
SD: It sounds like you both have plenty to keep you busy.
BM: Providing educational opportunities through drama is at the core of what we do at Stage One and Music Theatre Louisville. I think we have a great team of professionals working to accomplish this mission, and I am really proud to be part of this organization.
LA: I don’t know what I could add to that. When the new school year starts, Becca and I will be out in the schools forty hours a week; and when we’re not there, we’ll be posting study guides on the web site that any teacher can use to incorporate drama into his or her core curriculum. I encourage teachers and parents to go to the web site, www.stageone.org, and see what’s available, and then come see the shows…
it’s definitely fun!
For more information about DramaWorks or to purchase tickets for the remainder of Music Theatre Louisville’s season (Nunsense, July 16-24; Annie, August 6-15), go to MusicTheatreLouisville.com or call 502.584.7777. For information about Stage One’s 2010-2011 season, go to StageOne.org.
