BROWNSTOWN
Eight different colors of chairs were placed on the Royal Off-the-Square Theatre stage.
On a piece of paper taped to each chair was a different emotion: Angry, brave, happy, sassy, sad, confused, nervous and in love.
Katie Rohlfing picked eight names, and each youth picked a chair. She then drew slips of paper out of a jar and read the phrase from a Disney movie. Then it was up to each youth to say that phrase in the emotion on their chair.
After each person went through each emotion with a different phrase, eight more students were brought onstage. At the end, some adult volunteers also joined in on the fun.
The activity was among several Rohlfing picked to help 84 kids ages 6 to 18 learn the elements of theater during a four-day workshop.
On the first day, youth were introduced to theater and focused on vocalization and how to speak onstage. The next day, they worked on movement and expression to produce the feel of a character. The third day, which included the game of Emotional Chairs, was all about characterization and putting all of the elements they had learned to create a whole character.
It all culminated on the final day with an opportunity to audition for a Jackson County Young Artists’ Theatre production of “The Princess Who Had No Name.”
“I’ve seen these kids in what they’ve done, and I can take it into directing them with the show,” said Rohlfing, who served as the workshop leader and will direct the show in July.
“Even those who do stay with it are going to grow even more,” she said. “That’s why I love working with children’s theater. They just have so much energy and want to do this. … You just see this glow on their faces, and they are always so happy to be there.”
This was the ninth year of the workshop. Last summer, it all came full circle for Rohlfing, as she began attending the workshop when she was a freshman at Brownstown Central High School and she was starting her second year studying theater education at the University of Indianapolis when she was asked to help lead the workshop.
Even though it was much different due to the COVID-19 pandemic and there wasn’t a youth production last summer, Rohlfing still enjoyed being able to share her love of theater with local youth.
This year, the workshop was back to normal, and she’s looking forward to directing the production, which will be July 16, 17, 18, 23 and 24.
“It has given me even more experience as a theater education major who wants to teach theater in schools,” Rohlfing said. “This just gives me even more both practice as well as just gaining that experience.”
There were 84 boys and girls broken into three age groups, and each meeting lasted two and a half hours. Rohlfing said there was a mix of theater newcomers and experienced actors in each session.
“They grow like 100 times because the first day they usually come, they are scared,” she said. “Some kids even want their parents in the back the whole time and they are kind of shy, but as they start doing stuff and getting into it, they just grow out of their shells. Some of these kids just within an hour were so outgoing and silly, so fun.”
Rohlfing said the greatest part is seeing a kid grow and really find themselves onstage.
“Even if you don’t end up being like me and going into theater education or trying to go into movies or Broadway or being in a show, it’s still important for these kids because it teaches them communication skills, how to talk through their feelings,” she said. “It teaches them ways to work together, which is a huge thing. It teaches them so many good things for even just life in general.”
Stacey Williams, who has led the workshop in the past and assisted this year, said it was neat to see Rohlfing go from a student in the workshop to leading it.
“Not every kid is going to grow up to be a theater major or whatever, but she has just done an amazing job organizing,” Williams said. “I’ve kind of turned over all of the planning this year to her, and she’s so organized.”
Sam Parisi, 11, who will be a sixth-grader at Immanuel Lutheran School in Seymour in the fall, was among the workshop participants.
It was his second year, and he said he enjoyed Emotional Chairs the most.
“It was really fun, and I like to experience all of the different perspectives on things,” he said. “When you do confused, it’s more of like a question, and when you do brave, it’s different.”
Parisi said the workshop allows kids to interact with each other and portray different characters and emotions.
“I get to meet a lot of new people, and it helped me a lot to act. It’s just really, really fun,” he said. “I feel more comfortable to do more silly things, and one of my friends, Mason (Williams), he has helped me out a lot with that. He’s really funny.”
Fellow Immanuel student Finley Barlow, 9, participated in the workshop for the first time because she wants to be an actress.
While she said she was nervous in the beginning, it didn’t take long for that to go away.
“It was a lot of fun, and it wasn’t like doing anything that you had to be perfect at,” she said. “It was just a lot of games that made you better. I feel pretty happy that I was able to fit in more.”
Rohlfing was glad to hear the kids had fun because that’s always the first priority.
“Because I don’t want this to be a camp where it was like, ‘Oh, we just got lectured all week about the history of the stage,'” she said.
“The first thing I hope they take away from this is they had fun and want to do more theater,” she said. “Even if they don’t want to do more theater, just that they are more confident in themselves and are better speakers in general, better at communicating. Overall, they all grow so much, it’s just a joy to see them. I just hope they take away all of the fun with everything they’ve learned through the week.”
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What: Jackson County Young Artists’ Theatre’s production of “The Princess Who Had No Name”
When: 7:30 p.m. July 16, 17, 23 and 24 and 2:30 p.m. July 18
Where: Royal Off-the-Square Theatre, 121 W. Walnut St., Brownstown
Who: 35 boys and girls ages 6 to 18 who auditioned for roles at the end of the recent JCYAT youth theater workshop
Cost: $8; tickets will go on sale June 16 online at tktassistant.com/Tix/?u=JCCT
Information: Visit jcct.org, call 812-358-5228 or email [email protected]
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