Week #6 Schedule

Can you believe only two weeks left???

NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (PBS) story about Missoula Children's Theater

PBS was in Missoula in June filming a segment about MCT...it aired tonight (7/23/09)...here is the clip from the program. The piece talks about MCT's Performing Arts Academy Next Step Prep as well. Beautiful story about a fantastic theater company.

Click here to see the clip

Downtown Tonight Performance #1 (7/16/09)

The Next Step Prep students performed at the Downtown Tonight venue at Caras Park on July 16th, where they sang pieces from "Rent" and an unpublished piece by Jason Robert Brown entitled, "Brand New You". This evening's performance featured solo artists Eden, Petrea, Kyler and Liz.

Greg introduces the students to the crowd and gives a brief explanation of Next Step Prep and the intensive summer schedule to which the students adhere...




Eden performs "Broadway Baby". Way to go, Eden!


Petrea performs "Look to the Rainbow". Beautiful job!


Kalene rocks out in a solo portion of one of the ensemble numbers...



Sara hits the high note....crowd goes wild :)


Kyler performing "I've Got The World on a String". Good ol' Frank would be proud, Kyler...


Liz peforms "Something Good" from "The Sound of Music"... it sounded wonderful...


None of the soloists was intimidated by the crowd, which numbered around a thousand at any given time. Downtown Tonight is a popular event in Missoula and a LOT of people show up for great food and great entertainment. They were not disappointed...

The group rocks out for "Brand New You". This was the song that Jason Robert Brown taught them the first night he worked with them. It was a thrill to see it all come together and see how the soloists and ensemble worked seamlessly tonight. Great job, everyone!!!


The students were really excited to perform this number, and it showed throughout the entire song...





Well done, performers! I will be posting images of tonight's repeat performance in just a little bit.

Comedy with Andy Taylor (and some musical theater work with his wife Alette)

Andy Taylor taught the students comedic techniques during week #4. I wish I had been able to spend more time in his classroom. His lessons focused on timing, use of deadpan, playing off other cast member's strengths, "reading" an audience, and injecting a bit of the unexpected into a performance.

In this exercise, students were given jokes to read to the class, to practice their timing and the use of sound effects and inflection. When it was Jenna's turn, she asked the question, "well, what do you do when you think the joke you're supposed to tell just isn't funny?" This turned into a hilarious improv lesson where just practicing the non-funny joke turned into a funny joke in and of itself. I had to put my camera down at one point because I was laughing.

Jenna makes an offhand remark to her teacher...in any other class this might have warranted a detention...

In this class...not so much....Andy stopped, turned to Jenna and said, "Now THAT'S funny!"


Then gave her the big high five...


This then turned into a lesson on delivering these types of jokes, interpreting the joke, and reading your audience in order to get the best reaction as possible. Andy also talked about what to do when seemingly funny material fails, and referenced the late Johnny Carson as a master of this. In his nightly monologue, some jokes just inherently weren't as funny delivered as they looked on paper. Carson always had a snappy comeback, often in a self-denigrating way, to save the moment. This was good to remember...



FYI--Andy's shirt is a print by the late Rudy Autio, an amazing artist from Missoula who passed away in recent years. His work in printmaking and ceramics is known around the world.

Part of Andy's classroom time was taught by his wife, Alette, who helped the students run through various musical theater dance routines (such as the "Telephone Song" from Bye Bye Birdie, and "Dancing Queen" from Mama Mia. Alette has a TON of energy, and her enthusiasm for dance was amazing.


The day I photographed Alette, she was teaching the students the routine for "Dancing Queen". It was great!


This is Andy and Alette's daughter, Lucy, who was just a riot. She patiently sat with me on the dance studio floor while her mother worked and I took photographs. She even commandeered my camera for a few shots and finally looked at me, holding this huge camera and lens and said, "Wow...that's a big camera...do you know how to use it?" She was just too sweet. And she LOVES to perform. It was hard for her to rein in her dancing shoes as well as she begged her mother to let her join in...she eventually sneaked in at the last minute. I just LOVE this image. Future Next Step Prepper, I think!


Thanks Andy for your insight and wisdom into the art of comedy!

And thanks to Alette for her great instruction in dance for musical theater, and for Lucy and Ruby, who often stole the show! You are both amazing people, and you have a beautiful family.

Audition Preparation with Marcus Olson

Marcus Olson is an assistant professor of theater at Western Illinois University, but is no stranger to the MCT family, having conducted audition workshops at MCT's summer performing arts camps in the past. I wasn't able to spend a great deal of time in his workshops, at least photographing, but what I did hear and see was truly inspiring. His workshop focused primarily on the audition process and helping the students develop techniques to stand out in a field of competitors. He also allowed for a healthy dose of reality, preparing the students for "cattle call" auditions (where groups of actors are weeded out just based on their physical appearance), and education on general expectations for the audition process.

Every interaction with the students exhibited Marcus's desire for the students to succeed. He acknowledged the fact that auditions are incredibly anxiety-provoking, and that as actors, it is incredibly difficulty to both tap into a deep well of emotional experience and portray this to a director/producer, while simultaneously maintaining a thick skin in the face of potential rejection for the part. "It's a simple truth", he told the students, "and you have to learn how to be in both places."

Here Marcus simulated a "cattle call" audition, having the students line up in front of him, asking a few questions of some, and then deciding (in a seemingly arbitrary way) who would be chosen to go on to the next audition phase. At the outset this seemed a simple exercise, but immediately the students began to discuss how their level of anxiety rose, how they began to become extremely self-confident, and how they started to question their abilities based on someone else getting a call-back. Marcus helped the students to understand that for some casting, the "cattle call" method is the only way to begin to narrow the audition field, as there is often not enough time to allow a full audition for everyone who shows up (sometimes there can be thousands). While the explanation helped to understand the process, the students agreed that it didn't make it any easier.


Marcus led the students through an exercise where they had to change aspects of their appearance and their partner had to guess what was changed. It was interesting to watch the progress of this exercise, as the students ran out of "things" to change, and instead had to adopt body positions, facial expressions, and different personas in order to meet the goals of the exercise.




Marcus processes the exercise with the students, discussing how physical characteristics in a character as just as important as costuming...


Jadi shares a laugh during class discussion...



Marcus gave some great suggestions to the students, including keeping notes on everyday things that they see and do in order to study themselves and human behavior more thoroughly...



Kyler works with accompianist, Anne Bashor, before his mock audition...


Eden's mock audition...

Thank you, Marcus, for your hard work and dedication to the Next Step Students. Your wealth of knowledge and experience will be something they carry for years to come.

Guest Dance Instructor Jack Failla

Thanks to On Center Performing Arts for this bio as well! Jack Failla is a native of Los Angeles, California. He studied dance under some of the most respected teachers in the business: Joe Tremaine, New York's Luigi, West Side Story's Jaime Rodgers, just to name a few. Jack has performing and choreography credits ranging from Las Vegas's "Sigfried and Roy" at the Mirage, "Jubileee" at the Bally's Hotel & Casino, and world productions in South Africa, Greece, Asia, Portgual, and most notably "Bal Du Moulin Rouge" in Paris, France. Jack has participated in productions of widely varying genres, including World Tours of Dolly Parton's "Hello, I'm Dolly", Cirque shows "Galaxy" and "Cirque Dezire", both touring all over Europe. He recently choreographed for Miley Cyrus's daddy, Billy Ray Cyrus, for over 2 years. In 2007, Jack choreographed 7 new shows for Princess Cruises and the 5 star cruise line, Regent Seas.

Jack is known throughout Nevada, Montana, and Connecticut for his children's summer workshops, and Master Jazz classes with University students. He has the abilty to bring the artistry of dance, on this most sophisticated level of celebrity, to the level of the most novice of children. He has an incredible ability to assess qualitifes in his performers and being them to a higher level of performance. His pupils discover new facets to their own abilities on a regular basis. We were so pleased to have him teach at Next Step Prep for a couple weeks.

Jack stressed the importance of a good warm up and of regular stretching and range-of-motion exercises to the students, emphasizing that "it's what you DON'T see in the stretch that counts" and reminded students of the internal anatomy involved in dancing.




Movement work across the floor...


It was an absolute delight to watch Jack dance...I know it sounds cliche to use the word "fluid" when discussing dance, but, well...it fits!



Jack has a wonderful way of coaching and demonstrating for the students. He has an infectious spirit that motivates students to do their best, even with moves they find complicated...here Jack emphasizes the importance of a strong core muscle group...



Right in the thick of it with demonstration...


Thank you so much, Jack. We will miss you!