Junior Theatre Festival

By Ella House

The lobby of a quaint little California hotel was packed with adults and kids alike. The students in the room ranged from 1st grade all the way to seniors in high school. Everyone was wearing the same blue shirt, proudly proclaiming “Honk Jr.” on the front. Teacher and director Marianne Adams led the motley crew of ducklings, chickens, and other farm yard animals in the cast. She watched over the group with a watchful eye, nearly ready to depart for the first day of five days at the Junior Theatre Festival (JTF) in Sacramento California.

Grandstreet Theatre had been preparing on and off for JTF since August. Capital High student Seamus Whyte was even fighting off a cold in mid January during a rehearsal, but arrived ready to perform to the best of his ability anyway. Whyte started theatre when he was three or four after his parents had signed him up, following in his siblings’ footsteps. Keeping up with his various classes, he did Grandstreet on top of school and still found time to enjoy himself.

“(JTF’s) a wonderful experience,” he said. “And California is nice and warm,” he said with a wry smile.

JTF is a theatre festival for children of all ages. Groups ranging from ten to thirty kids arrange a piece that can only be 15 minutes long and perform in front of three adjudicators who grade the group on dancing, acting, singing and over-all story-telling. Afterward, the groups attend a final awards ceremony where the adjudicators highlight groups for their outstanding work in those categories.

Grandstreet told the story of the ugly duckling for the adjudicators, and the group finished the 15 minute piece with a “honk”, beaming faces looking out to the audience and the panel of adjudicators.

After the performance, Adams covered a proud smile with her hand. She had been surprised by the adjudication that Grandstreet had received. Their comments were all so positive that the entire group was floored.

“You’re all amazing story tellers; I wanted to join in on the fun!” one adjudicator said.

Afterwards, they all sat in a circle and talked about the brief performance. Marianne watched on, proud of her little ducklings.

Adams went from “being a pretender” to being a teacher in Helena, Montana by accident. She stumbled into the teaching position after taking a banking job and realizing that teaching was something that spoke to her.

“Probably just reminds me of being a kid. I like teaching because I have to learn again,” she says with a smile.

Adams herself is a presence to be around. She is quiet, reserved, but has a sense of humor that can light up a room. A kid at heart, Adams has been teaching for nearly as long as she had been in Helena.

“Accident, really. Necessity,” she says quickly after being asked why she started teaching.

“When I moved here I didn’t really know what I was gonna do. I didn’t really have a job. I had a job at a bank which was boring. The woman who was running the program here said ‘you should come and teach a class’ After I had lived here for about a year, she said ‘I think you’d be good.’ I said ‘oh God, no. No. I don’t know anything about teaching. I would not be good at teaching.’ She said ‘just take this one class for me for this first semester’ or whatever it was. It was kindergarten through second. But after I did it, I was just hooked. They were just so funny. It was just so much fun.”

Adams has been a positive force of nature in the Helena community, and it shows. Grandstreet Theatre ended up winning “Best In Pod”, meaning that the group was the best in their performance group and they all got to perform for the 1700 kids and teachers attending the event alongside seven other theatre groups across the United States and even a group from Seoul, South Korea.

On top of winning Best in Pod, CHS’s own Kate Loble, a junior, and HHS’s Kendall Skoog, a senior, won JTF All Star, meaning that they were the best actors from the group and were recognized for their performance. Sealey Raymond won an award for best female actor, one of three girls that won the award.

A humble community theatre from Helena, Montana ended up succeeding with flying colors with the help of actors like Seamus Whyte, Kate Loble, Sealey Raymond and their director Marianne Adams. Grandstreet left a lasting impression on Sacramento, and they’re already preparing for next year.

You can support Grandstreet Theatre by attending some of the shows on their season and look out for their announcement of the next season of shows.