Rebecca Jackson
Acting Out Members Pictured L-R are Peyton Schier, Addison Carmen, Tura Furrow-Scott, Marisa Parikh, Matthew Scott, Paul Laurent, Jonas Tyree and Cate Willis.
Members of Acting Out, the after-school theatre program hosted by Effulgent Productions at the Bower Center for the Arts, will get to see their words and ideas come to life on Mill Mountain Theatre’s Waldron Stage as part of MMT Conservatory’s Write Stuff Young Playwrights Festival.
Two different scripts were submitted for consideration and one of these was selected by a panel of readers to be produced in a staged reading format by Mill Mountain Theatre Conservatory students on April 12th, 2019.
“Lucas,” helmed by Tura Furrow-Scott (a freshman at Staunton River High School) with Jonas Tyree (a fifth grader at New London Elementary) and Addison Carmen (a fifth grader at Bedford Elementary), tells the story of a student coming to terms with himself and others’ perceptions of him while trying to navigate the very choppy waters of high school and adolescence.
The second script, “Me,” a collaborative effort between Matthew Scott (freshman at Liberty High School), Cate Willis (sophomore at Liberty High School), Paul Laurent (seventh grader at Liberty Middle) and Peyton Schier (sixth grader at Liberty Middle) is a retrospective delving into how the sense of self can be twisted by the people closest to us, and how to contend with those relationships. The team behind this script was offered the opportunity by MMT to continue workshopping this “powerful and important” piece in an effort to help develop its content and breathe life into its characters.
Acting Out is comprised of students in grades 5 through 10 from five different Bedford County Public Schools. Members meet each week to work on their reading, fluency, and public speaking skills by acting in short scripts, to practice their improv skills by playing games focused on teamwork and collaboration, to develop leadership skills by directing their peers, and to utilize creative writing prompts in order to write their own scripts and monologues. This after-school drama club is open to students in grades 5 through 12, and programming is available for 9 hours each week.
In addition to taking part in opportunities like the Young Playwrights Festival, members have access to workshops in props-building, lighting design, set construction, and costuming. Last semester, members of Acting Out worked alongside actors from area theatres to present ‘A Seussified Christmas Carol’ to delighted audiences at the Bower Center.
Effulgent Productions is committed to providing access to theatre education and activities to underserved youth in the Bedford community by keeping programming affordable and accepting new members into Acting Out on a rolling basis. In addition, Effulgent Productions will be hosting the 2nd annual 24 Hour Nonconsecutive Theatre Project summer camp in June at the Bower Center with financial assistance available.
To request further information about any of these projects or to register a new student, contact m.kennedy@bowercenter.org.
About the Writer:
Rebecca Jackson is a veteran newspaper person/journalist based in Bedford County, VA. A native of California and an M.A. graduate of Arizona State University, she has a passion for pets (animals), good food/cooking, music, wine, horticulture, photography and travel.