Breeding

Every class includes a lesson on professionalism for students of the Denton Theatre School.

Their etiquette training showed so well that the troupe members of the Pied Piper Players, the school’s new traveling youth company, earned the Back Stage award at the recent Texas Nonprofit Theatres Inc. annual youth conference. The event came to Denton, where 15 youth companies brought children and teens to workshops and showcase performances.

Courtesy photo

Drew Stone of the Pied Piper Players participates in a stage makeup class as part of the recent Texas Nonprofit Theatres Inc. annual youth conference. The Pied Pipers won the Back Stage award for their professionalism during the conference.

“I think what it does is reflect on the whole attitude of the Denton Community Theatre,” said managing director Mike Barrow. “We do a great job of putting on community theater productions with a professional flair. I’ve heard that so many times from our patrons who’ve seen theater in New York, in Chicago and in Dallas. We do community theater, but we’re really professional about it. I think that it’s a trickle-down to the kids, and it’s a great reflection on Mildred [Peveto, the director of the school].”

Denton Theatre School offers after-school and summer classes and camps to children and teens on everything from creativity to musical theater. Usually, camps end with a production that uses students on stage and behind the scenes.

At the state youth conference, the Pied Piper Players — a company within the school — performed Totally Red!, a version of Little Red Riding Hood that tells the story in different styles of theater. The ensemble, ages 7 to 16, took turns playing Little Red, the Big Bad Wolf, Granny and the Woodsman in storybook theater style, then in melodrama, then in the Shakespearean style, on to a hip-hop scene, then a musical theater treatment and, finally, in the avant garde style.

“Our kids started off the whole thing; they were the first group to perform,” Barrow said. “I got there just in time to sit down and watch them. Here were 350 of their peers, and those poor guys led the festival off, and they got an absolutely simultaneous standing ovation from the audience. Everyone was on their feet. I told them: ‘Since I came on in September, this is the proudest moment I’ve had as the managing director.’ I said that because I know how hard they worked in this, and they so deserved to have this kid of reaction.”

Peveto said the students started working on Totally Red! in January, and they learned about etiquette every step of the way.

“Every class that we teach, we discuss theater etiquette,” she said. “Then, when we begin production, we add a layer to each class about professionalism. It’s a part of just about everything they learn. For instance, when we got into rehearsals, they learn that you don’t sit on the vanities in the dressing room, you don’t bring food or drink anywhere into the theater because that’s not part of theater etiquette. It’s there for a reason.”

Performers don’t sit on makeup counter vanities because they can stain and dust costumes with makeup. They don’t bring food into the theater because spills can damage props, scripts, costumes and attract pests.

Professionalism boils down to respect, Peveto said.

“All of our teachers are constantly talking about respect. When I’m talking, you’re not talking. When you’re talking, I’m not talking. When they learn to listen to everyone in a rehearsal, they learn that everybody has an opportunity to contribute. I think it’s not easy. It’s certainly not something in this day and age to find with students. They go to a lot of concerts where they can scream and yell and be loud. They’re not used to coming into a theater,” Peveto said.

Part of the program’s success in training respectful students might have to do with the boundaries set in classes. Peveto said the teachers talk with the young performers and technicians and ask them to create a class behavior policy together.

“If they are going to grow and have results, the teachers let them decide how the classroom is going to work. And the teachers can say: ‘Now remember, we all agreed that this was how we were going to work on this.’ They also remind the students that remarks have to be constructive and not just derogatory,” Peveto said.

The collaboration between students and teachers promotes an active and respectful class. Students come to rehearsals with their reading done and their homework done, and they also learn that listening to their peers take direction can teach them a lot. The school’s faculty takes every opportunity to introduce the young performers to the Campus Theatre and its features. The students know how much the curtains cost, how the stage lighting works and how scrims, as simple as they look, are bought and paid. They respect the space as much as they respect each other, or they feel the consequences.

Peveto shared the Totally Red! classes with a team of teachers. Erica Cole and Lindsey Turman-Gregory started the students in a study of theater styles. Liz Seibt and Gerald Young joined the school in March for technical work. Elizabeth Lambert and David Rowland worked with the musical theater rehearsals and Peveto joined them when they prepared a performance for the Denton Arts & Jazz festival. Peveto said the teachers are all on the same page when the rehearsals start.

“The great thing is that all of our teachers at Denton Theatre School are all people who have been involved in theater for many years, or they have degrees,” Peveto said. “Their expertise brings a lot to the class, and the students know that their teachers know what they are talking about. This isn’t just someone’s mother. I know that might sound terrible, but they do know that the teachers know what they are doing. And the students see some of the teachers on stage in plays at DCT, so they know the teachers do what they are teaching.”

If she could put it in a nutshell, Peveto said, she’d attribute the company’s success to preparation. Etiquette and respect mean that students get to use their time well, and everyone gets to feel ready.

“One of my big things I say is that ‘preparation determines success,’” Peveto said. “The teachers have to be prepared, the students have to be prepared. It’s a big part of what we teach.”

In addition to the award to the company for being congenial and professional, two students were named to the conference all-star cast: Abigail Borah, who played the role of Little Red Riding Hood in the storybook theater scene; and Haven Hendrik, who played Little Red Riding Hood in the musical theater scene.