Reprinted from the Santa Cruz Good Times Entertainment Weekly - August 2003 Pisces Moon Jr. Theater production company, known for its edgy material, exposes a softer side with its children’s division by Christa Martin Susan Myer reminds an actress to go to the bathroom before the show begins. This seems like a bizarre job duty for the acclaimed local director of “The Laramie Project,” but pretty much everything about this afternoon is a bit unforeseen. Myer’s bathroom reminder isn’t being issued to one of the adult actors from she and Christopher Sugarman’s theater company, Pisces Moon Productions. Instead, it’s a child actor who looks up at her, receives the information and takes perfect direction. This actress is in a troupe of young thespians parading about in the halls—little people, not what you’d expect when you initially think “Pisces Moon,” a company that has developed a reputation for being edgy, controversial, smart and stellar in performance quality. But in a way, it makes perfect sense. Myer is known for pushing the envelope and so it should really be no surprise that she and Sugarman have decided to push the boundaries of their own company and introduce a children’s division. And that’s what is happening today: eight children gracefully emerge from the back door and walk onstage. They stand upright and confident. Moms, dads, family and other friends sit in the audience at the Broadway Playhouse, some with video cameras, ready to capture their little ones as they embark on a 30-minute collaborative showcase of what they’ve learned over the last few weeks in the theatrical arts. The stage is hollowed out. On the walls hang hats and other props. Each child finds his or her mark (a box) and sits down. Myer takes the stage and explains the Pisces Moon children’s program and what the young ones have been studying over the last two weeks. Like any good director, she then turns over the show to the stars. “I watch some kids basically come alive,” Myer says later, reflecting on the summer program. “They grow in their confidence and it helps them with their literary skills.” Pisces Moon has found a unique niche in the local children’s theatrical/educational market: process orientation. When researching and preparing the program Myer, Sugarman and their new addition, Terri Steinmann, wanted children to understand the process of how to put on a play. (Many other children’s companies in town focus energy on the final product and producing plays.) “We teach them the fundamentals of being in a [theatrical] environment,” Myer says. “On a stage, what does up mean? What does down mean? What about projection? What does it mean to ‘upstage’ [someone]? We wanted to give kids a grounding.” So last summer Myer and Sugarman launched the children’s division of Pisces Moon. It fared well, but expanded this year when they brought on Steinmann who will henceforth be leading the youth program. She assisted Myer this summer in teaching about 160 children the basics in theater: acting, playwriting, stage combat, costumes, lighting and more. It’s not an enormous shocker that stage combat/sword play is one of the favorite lessons. The children take turns today dueling it out on stage and it’s more than obvious that they are relishing their turns of swiping at one another, knocking the sword out of their opponent’s hand and performing this choreographed dance between two fighters. It’s impressive. So is the entire, albeit short, production. This gang of eight are the afternoon crowd, a racially diverse mix whose parents or guardians are paying anywhere from $160-$320 for their young dramatic enthusiasts to receive a crash course in theater from educated professionals with a recognized production company. And this is all, really, just the beginning. The program is only in its second year of livelihood and already the three-person team of Steinmann, Myer and Sugarman have plans to plump up the children’s division. It starts with expanding the company’s waistline by continuing to offer the youth educational program this fall, with intentions to continue it throughout the school year. It’s a new and wary step, but based on feedback from both children and parents/families, this component of children’s theater might be an untapped arena with some fans clamoring to gain entrance. “[The children] are treated with the reverence and respect of a professional actor,” Steinmann says, during a lunch break between sessions. “… It’s about helping develop them as human beings and bring art into their lives. These skills are lifelong skills: reading, speaking, communicating, understanding body language and how the mind, body and spirit are connected. We are very literature based with kids writing their own shows. They really get to delve into finding creativity within themselves. … What’s nice about working with kids is they are willing to take risks and trust and think out of the box.” Come spring 2004 theatergoers will have to think outside of their own “Pisces Moon” box, when the company produces its first full-length children’s play. It will not be the junior-sized version of “The Laramie Project.” The show will be performed by children and produced for a youthful audience. The title? “Cyrano,” adapted from the book “Cyrano de Bergerac,” with the play written by none other than GT’s humor columnist and former Shakespeare Santa Cruz managing director, Sven Davis. “They’ll sign in on their callboard … have lights and costumes and a set, and have people working around the clock, supporting them,” Steinmann says. Until then, children will be able to enroll in a variety of after-school theater sessions, ongoing for about 10 weeks, at two hours a week. The cost per session is about $180-$200. Some classes will focus on the production elements of putting on a play and others will involve the children writing their own work culminating in something like the radio play which this octet offers up as their last tribute to theater, today during this showcase. The show comes to an end and they have finished enticing the audience with a sampling of theatrical knowledge and then shimmy “downstage” to take a sweeping bow. The small audience (mostly family) applauds and smiles, and then Myer returns to her platform again. She spends a few minutes speaking about each child and his or her assets to the summer program, then hands each a specialized award. This of course elicits beams from parents. (Note to Myer: smart move.) Later on a young girl stands and waits for her moment to thank “Susan” and offer her director a pint-sized hug. It’s a cute moment. The children and parents of the third summer session shuffle off and Myer explains that the fourth session will commence shortly. In it, students will perform in an adapted play of either “Harry Potter” or “The Lord of the Rings.” There will be a short break and then the fall classes will start soon. It’s then that Steinmann will officially be handed the reigns of the children’s program and Myer and Sugarman will move on to their next adult play—no doubt, full of smart writing and plenty of edgy material.
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