Tempo Cover Story - Oregon Conservatory of Performing Arts

August 25, 2006

Rehearsal

Youths from OCPA's Magic of Theatre summer camp rehearse

Regards to Broadway

Oregon Conservatory of Performing Arts will present a history of Broadway featuring a troupe of actors aged from 12 to 17

A touch of Broadway will appear in Medford Saturday when students from Oregon Conservatory of Performing Arts' Magic of Theatre summer camp take the stage at the Craterian.

Twenty-six performers ranging in age from 12 to 17 will present "20th Century Broadway," a historical musical revue written especially for OCPA by award-winning Broadway actress Karen Cody.

Rehearsals were in full swing this week at St. Mary's School where the camp has been held for the past month.

On the main floor of the auditorium director and acting instructor Caroline Shaffer worked with the cast on a complicated sequence of movement choreographed with a bongo drum and snapping fingers. While Gracie Katzmar, 14, sang Ethel Merman's "I Got Rhythm," dance instructor and choreographer Liisa Ivary coached one of the actors on how to respond.

Music director Federico Behncke and Ivary then cued the cast to snap their fingers in time to the music. "At the end of the song it's one -- two -- down -- one -- two -- chairs --," Shaffer counted.

After the break, Ivary went over the "All That Jazz" choreography with a small group accompanied by pianist Lisa Chung, a 2005 graduate of Ashland High School who is now majoring in musical composition at Oberland Conservatory in Ohio. The rest of the cast was sent to work on specific scenes in several classrooms.

In one room, stage manager Jazmin Ogle rehearsed a scene from "The Crucible," going over lines.

"OK. Third time's a charm," she said. "You've got to stay focused on the timing."

In another room, Behncke rehearsed Bryson Mills, 13, and Leticia Wolfer, 17, who sing the duet "Summer Lovin'" from "Grease." "Remember eye contact," he said over the piano, as he went over and over a particular section of the song.

The camp is a new experience for Mills and he was concerned about how the song was going.

"I know what to do, but I'm having trouble doing it and it bothers me."

So why would he want to spend a month of his summer going through all this in addition to snowboarding, basketball and football?

"I am here because I thought this would be better than watching TV and getting in trouble. I like it. It's pretty fun. It's hard to change to be different characters from other plays. Now we have to do this thing in the Craterian and I'm really nervous."

Leticia attends Crater High School. She is also the host sister to Uran Takagi, 16, who will be attending Crater as a junior. Uran started camp with Leticia the day after arriving in Southern Oregon from Japan, diving head-first into the English language, American culture, local history and the ways of Rogue Valley teenagers.

"It's fun," Uran said. "Everyone is so kind to me. All the music is new, too. Rock and punk is so fast -- I can sing this music easier."

Uran has been dancing for seven years. In her high school in Japan, there is no drama class, but there is a drama club.

Campers have been busy learning acting, singing and dancing techniques at the camp under the guidance of camp director and producer Jeff Tabler, Ivary, Behncke and assistant choreographer Wendy Spurgeon. OCPA has been around for eight years and this is the sixth summer they have offered the Magic of Theatre summer camps.

"I put this (OCPA) together with a friend because at the time budgets were being cut in public schools taking out the music, dance and theatre classes," Tabler said. "We wanted to offer something to complement what was still there in the schools and offer more. I really enjoy working with kids and theater."

This is the fourth year Sari Johnson, 15, has been going to OCPA camps.

"I do this because of the experience," Sari said. "I like meeting new people. Showing off your talents. You express a part of you that you might not have known you had."

While singing and dancing their way through each scene, the young performers get a quick lesson in the history of the American musical. They also get a good dose of American history. Broadway serves as a backdrop for the greater picture of what was going on at the time.

The show has a lot of ground to cover. It starts with George M. Cohan's 1904 anthem, "Give My Regards to Broadway," then moves through the Ziegfeld Follies, World War I, the Roaring '20s, the Depression, World War II and the golden age of the Broadway musical. The show continues through the Cold War, Joseph McCarthy, the civil rights movement, and on up to the present with snippets from "Grease," "Chicago" and mentions of "The Lion King" and Broadway revivals.

"We're hoping they're learning about history," Shaffer said. "They've been watching old movies from the '30s-'50s. We're trying to give them a sense of the period."

The campers and their teachers only have a month to develop basic skills and rehearse for performance.

"We work 'em hard," Shaffer said. "They go home and work more. The parents are involved."

This is Shaffer's second year directing at the camp.

"It's really rewarding to be with them for four weeks and watch them grow," she said. "To see how they feel about themselves after this. Their excitement."

Twenty-year-old Ogle is working at the camp as stage manager for the third year. She's been involved in theater since she was 15 in Ashland High School.

"It's really nice seeing how things evolve from the first day being shy to having this enormous stage presence," Ogle said.

About half of the campers have been through the program before. Tabler and Shaffer say that these veterans serve as informal mentors for the new campers. This is Isabelle Schuler's third session.

"I like musicals because it's a chance to be someone I'm not," Isabelle, 14, said. "When I get among people here I get to do theater games where I get to yell. This is where I like to hang out. Theater people really rock."

This is the first camp experience for music director Behncke who comes from Argentina.

"I'm loving it," he said. "We want people in the show to have an experience. Our mission statement is we don't want prima donas. We don't want divas. Everybody feels important and gets something important to do."

"20th Century Broadway" is the fourth production to come out of the four Magic of Theatre camps that were held this summer from June through August.

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