JONESBOROUGH REPERTORY THEATRE

One of the Jonesborough Repertory Theatre’s goals is to introduce young people to theater. If the latest JRT production is any indication, then the plan is working.

JRT had at least 140 young people for auditions to “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” the story written by C.S. Lewis and dramatized by Joseph Robinette. The opening-night show tonight is sold out.

The production called for only 16 speaking parts.

“We got creative and ended up casting 33 onstage actors,” said Janette Gaines, who is co-directing the play along with Kathleen Buttolph. “And we cast students everywhere — as backstage crew, stage manager, light board, sound. Every part of this production is run by students. And we still had to turn away some very talented students. There just weren’t enough parts.”

Fortunately for the students, JRT has a youth drama program and offers classes for kindergarten through 12th grade.

“We plan to have more productions for kids,” Gaines said. “Kathleen and I both agree, we’ve not had a student show up here who does not have some talent. One of our challenges is to help them discover their talent — and it’s not all onstage; some may be in designing costumes or sets or learning about light boards — and to develop it to the fullest.”

Some of the reason for the big audition turnout was the evolution of JRT’s youth drama classes and the theater’s commitment to involving young people. Some of the reason, Gaines said, is also due to the popularity of the story itself.

“The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” was a popular Lewis book, was a play and recently became a movie, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” With the sequel “The Chronicles: Prince Caspian” due out in May, interest is at a peak.

As Dramatic Publishing explains, “this new dramatization ... faithfully recreates the magic and mystery of Aslan, the great lion, his struggle with the White Witch, and the adventures of four children who inadvertently wander from an old wardrobe into the exciting, never-to-be-forgotten Narnia. The intense action features chases, duels and escapes as the witch is determined to keep Narnia in her possession and to end the reign of Aslan.

The cast drew students from around the area, including Kingsport, Erwin, Elizabethton and Greeneville. Gaines said getting kids involved also means getting families involved.

“It really is community theater. We’ve got parents working the box office and helping in any way they can.”

The play requires a large number of costumes and a lot of makeup work to make the cast into their animal characters. The contributions of two people have been crucial — Lori Ann Wright, a drama teacher at Unicoi County High School who gave a makeup workshop; and Shirley Stelzer, Gaines’ mother, from South Carolina, who’s handled costumes.

Characters include not just traditional animals like lions, wolves and mice, but also a centaur (half man, half horse), a faun (half man, half goat) and a unicorn.

The cast also spent time studying animals, and some of rehearsal included working with the kids on how to use their bodies to become the characters.

“We did character walks with the kids. ‘You’re a bear; how would a bear walk?’ How do they hold their hands and shoulders?” Gaines said. “We don’t want to rely solely on the costume. We want it to enhance the characters.”

The theater, located at 1251⁄2 W. Main St., has also been decorated to help re-create the land of Narnia. “The entire theater is Narnia,” Gaines said. “It’s not just on stage. We’ve got things on the walls, and the actors will be coming and going from everywhere.”

Article courtesy of johnsoncitypress.com

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