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Greasepaint offers kids a stage

11/10/2011
Written by Alanna Powers
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Imagine a kids' musical production complete with a full set, a live band, a director, choreographer, musical director and 40 kid actors onstage. You could believe that a program this special usually costs a lot of money for the participants, but at Greasepaint Youtheatre, it costs them nothing.

 

Greasepaint Youtheatre is located in Scottsdale and holds 200 audience members. It gives kids of all ages the opportunity to gain knowledge in a professional setting, not to mention make new friends and feel welcomed in an after-school activity. The only things these kids have to do are audition, and then convince their parents to help out with the production.

“It’s a collaboration of me and all the parents in the production,” said Maureen Dias, artistic director of the Greasepaint Youtheatre.

She said that at the beginning of each new musical rehearsal, the parents meet and decide what aspect of the show they want to help with.

“It really is a nice little community that comes together," she said.

Dias said that parents must commit to 15 hours of volunteer work for the show their child is in. Usually, the work consists of execution of the ideas of the designers. For example, they have a set designer and a costume designer, but the parents are the ones who put the plans into action by creating costumes and sets. Dias said tasks are broken down so that every parent has help.

Elizabeth Karlsson, 7, has been in three plays at Greasepaint and said she has loved every experience.

“My favorite part of the shows is having all my friends come watch me and making new friends in rehearsals,” she said.

Elizabeth also takes dance classes but was inspired to act by movies and says plays are her favorite thing to do. She was the snake charmer’s daughter in their most recent musical, Disney's Aladdin, Jr., and her dad, Sven Karlsson, helped build the set.

“I love how everyone is just so nice,” said 12-year-old Liz Grannis, Princess Jasmine in Aladdin, Jr.

She said her experience with Greasepaint has been the best out of many other groups that she has participated in.

“We had rehearsals almost every night, so when the shows started and we only saw each other on the weekends, we were so excited for the nights of performances because we missed each other during the week,” she said.

This was Liz's third show with Greasepaint and her biggest role. The participants are between the ages of 7-19 and have different shows to compliment the different age groups. Disney’s Aladdin, Jr. was tailored to kids aged 7-12, but their next musical, Les Miserables, is only for ages 12-19.

The theatre usually has about four productions per year and also offers camps and workshops . All audition dates and times are posted on the website, Greasepaint.org.


http://www.arcadiadaily.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/drama/672-greasepaint-offers-kids-a-stage

Scottsdale youth theater defies odds, increases ticket sales

Some troupes have shut, but this one is thriving

by Beth Duckett - Sept. 1, 2011 06:09 AM
The Arizona Republic

 

Greasepaint Youtheatre, the award-winning children's theater in downtown Scottsdale, has had its share of ups and downs over 27 years.

In 2007, its parent company, Scottsdale Community Players, went dark. Then there was talk of building a new theater, which never happened.

"It's my challenge to make ourselves valuable again," said Maureen Dias, an actor, director and member of Theatre Artists Studio in Phoenix, who became Greasepaint's full-time producing director a year ago.

The efforts seem to be working.

While other theater troupes have shut down, Greasepaint saw a 35 percent improvement in ticket sales this past season. Its summer camps and workshops have nearly doubled in attendance, Dias said.

The children's theater now shares space with Phoenix Theater's Cookie Company, which also has managed Greasepaint.

After Scottsdale Community Players disbanded due to financial troubles, Phoenix Theater "stepped in to build a bridge to where we are today," said Kurt Bloeser, the former Scottsdale Community Players board president.

Greasepaint and the Cookie Company are housed at the former Stagebrush Theater at Second Street and Goldwater Boulevard.The 200-seat theater was built in 1968.

Scottsdale Community Players, founded in 1952, financed the theater's construction on a pay-as-you-go plan, setting the stage for its decades-long run in the heart of Scottsdale.

By the late 1980s, Greasepaint had become a regular tenant of Stagebrush. Wendy Leonard, a founder of Greasepaint, said the youth theater remained separate from the Players but they shared the space. "It was a great marriage for the two theaters - the young and old," Leonard said.

In her 15 years at Greasepaint, Leonard watched children move up in the ranks. One of her star child performers was Chelsea Kane, formerly Chelsea Staub, a Scottsdale native who has starred on the Disney Channel and recently finished third on the reality-TV series "Dancing with the Stars."

While finances could be a problem, "it wasn't about how much we were spending on costumes or spending on the set," Leonard said. "It was all about the kids."

Leonard left Greasepaint in 1999 to pursue other opportunities. After the Players disbanded, she said Greasepaint "floundered for a few years," until 2009, when the Phoenix Theater's Cookie Company, a professional adult troupe that holds productions for younger audiences, formed a business partnership with Greasepaint and moved into the theater space.

Since coming on board, Phoenix Theater has made improvements to the building and staffed programs for the several years they were leading the organization, Dias said.

The city has put in handicapped access and volunteers donated new seating and installation. A landscapers association donated the labor and materials to re-landscape the north face and entrance at the theater.

At one point, the city and Scottsdale Community Players anticipated relocating the theater to a new building and location to allow for redevelopment of the downtown site. The plans fell through, however. City officials said the theater could still move though there are no immediate plans to do so.

Since its inception, Greasepaint's programs have expanded to include Greasepaint Live, an educational traveling troupe of teens who perform at shelters, senior centers and other organizations.

The theater also has an education program that brings in professionals to teach youth about certain aspects of a performance.

In "Oliver Twist," they had a linguist lecture on the play's dialect, Dias said.

"It's not a pay-to-play theater," said Pam Kirby, Greasepaint's board treasurer who also serves on the Paradise Valley Town Council and the Scottsdale Unified School District governing board. "Costumes are provided by the theater. It's open to everyone regardless of your economic stresses. The children learn life skills."

Katie Hart, 23, formerly Katie Olsen, performed at Stagebrush as a young child and teenager. A family friend encouraged her to take part in Greasepaint's summer camp.

"I did my first show when I was 10," Hart said. "After that, I kept doing shows and got involved. Everything kind of progressed from there."

Despite performing for other troupes, Hart called Greasepaint her "home ground." Two months ago, Hart moved to New York City to pursue a career in musical theater.

She has auditioned for "Phantom of the Opera" on Broadway and recently got called in to audition for the role of Cosette in "Les Miserables," which she played as a youth.

"There was a great sense of community. I made lifelong friends," Hart said.



Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/community/scottsdale/articles/2011/08/31/20110831scottsdale-youth-theater-defies-odds-increases-ticket-sales.html#ixzz1X25SJkB0