Turning Theater into Child's Play
Louisville company focuses on introducing children to the theater

When the Louisville Children’s Theatre changed its name to Stage One in 1978, the decision reflected not only the physical place the plays would be featured but also the entry level of its audience. However, the name could just as easily reflect the organization’s place in Kentucky theater. Now in its 57th season and the oldest theatre in Louisville, Stage One reaches more than 100,000 young people, their families and educators each year.

Many Kentuckians know that Stage One in Louisville presents great theater for young audiences, but few residents of the Commonwealth know of the theater’s national and international reputation for fine quality productions. Dedicated to bringing the finest quality live theatre to young people and families, Stage One is recognized as one of the nation’s leading professional theatres for young audiences. Stage One has toured across the United States and in 1988 performed in Moscow and Yaroslavl, Russia.

A leading role
Stage One performs primarily in the multi-million dollar Kentucky Center for the Arts’ Bomhard Theater in Louisville, Kentucky, which was designed especially for young audiences. Louisville Gardens’ Armory Street Theatre has become home to Stage One’s participation format plays.

“Stage One is Louisville’s only professional theater for young audiences and one of only two professional theatres in Louisville, the other being Actors Theatre,” says Callie Ratterman, Stage One marketing director. “We have a resident company of professional Equity adult actors that perform in multiple productions throughout the course of a season. Our annual holiday tradition, ‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever,’ is one of few exceptions in that most characters onstage are played by local schoolchildren.”

In keeping with the theatre’s mission to contribute to the creative and social development of young people, every Stage One production is tailored for a specific age group. Stage One is particularly responsive to the needs of its school audiences by offering post-performance discussions and distributing free study guides developed for each production. Stage One’s Education Department provides extensive in-school residencies and drama core content workshops for students and teachers.

“We service over 130,000 schoolchildren every year, including an “at risk” student population who might not be able to afford a live theatre experience otherwise,” Ratterman says.

Curtain up
Stage One’s history began in 1946 when Sara Spencer Campbell (founder of the children’s drama publishing house known as Anchorage Press) and Mary Tyler (“Ming”) Dick formed the Louisville Children’s Theatre. Anne Gordon Brigham, who had been active in the pre-war Louisville Community Children’s Theatre, joined them in the venture.

LCT incorporated as a nonprofit organization and established its own offices in 1948 and two years later hired its first professional director.

In 1952, LCT began casting its own productions, using children from all over Louisville who were recruited to work on set construction, costuming, lighting and makeup. By 1972, LCT began using adult, salaried actors for the first time. That same year Diane Sawyer charmed Louisville audiences in the title role of “The Snow Queen.”

The theatre’s name was changed to Stage One: The Louisville Children’s Theatre in 1978 to better reflect the philosophy and objectives of the theater. Producing plays for specific age groups in a process called “developmental theatre” has become the cornerstone of Stage One philosophy.

In 1988, Stage One gave the name “DramaWorks” to its enhanced educational services, which consisted of in-service training for teachers, classroom workshops and residencies and an improved play guide connecting drama/arts to educational curriculum. The program expanded in 1990 to include dramatic instruction for young people ages 6 to 18 during the summer.

Encore
Despite its long history of success, those involved with Stage One are not content to simply maintain existing programs.

Under the helm of its new artistic director, J. Daniel Herring, Stage One aims to fulfill his mandate of a state-wide mission: every student in Kentucky attends a Stage One production, receives drama instruction through workshops, and their teacher receives professional development in using drama across the curriculum.

Stage One will focus on its core competencies by targeting productions and services to the pre-K through 9th-grade audience. With new play collaborations based on topics of human concern relevant to the Kentucky Education Reform Act standards, Stage One is poised for continued growth into the new century.

Deanna Mascle is a staff writer for The Lane Report.
editorial@lanereport.com

Back to Spotlight on the Arts Index

Back to August Issue

 

Copyright 1996-2003, by Kentucky Business Online.  All rights reserved.

Editorial content is copyright 2003, Lane Communications Group
All editorial material is fully protected and must not be reproduced in any manner without prior permission.

The Lane Report is a trademark of Lane Communications Group.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.