Onstage, four girls acted out a scene while their peers watched. They used no props except for chairs to sit on, so the audience had to imagine the items they used in their pantomime: a remote control, a time-travel box, a cat. The antics drew laughs and applause. Susan Raines, creative director of the Children’s Summer Theatre Workshop, looked on with pride. This is her last year in the program. She is passing the torch to her current co-director, John Higginbotham, to continue the program. Raines has earned the break; she’s been doing this for almost 20 years.
“John’s going to be excellent,” Raines said. “He’s a product of the program.”
Although Raines created the workshop in 1995, she is a product of the Iola theater community, too. She 8 eight years old when the Bowlus Fine Arts Center was constructed, and she saw her first play there, “Winnie the Pooh.” Martha Crosson played Christopher Robin and Judy Baker played the part of Pooh Bear. Raines was captivated by the idea of the play as much as the play, itself; the idea of live actors in front of a live audience instead of on a TV screen.
“It was just a whole different world and I fell in love with it,” she said.
The summer workshop program is for children from third to eighth grade, but high school and college students can continue in the program as staff members. The workshop teaches acting techniques, such as improvisation, and it brings everyone closer together. There are no cliques and no bullying. Peers reward those who think and act differently from the norm.
“That creative input is so important, and especially at an early age,” she said.
The program also teaches a lot of the technical aspects of theater work, such as lighting, directing, set design, props and more.
“It’s such a team effort to put together a production,” she said. “It’s a huge undertaking and it’s a lot of work, but it’s rewarding.”
About three or four years ago, the children in the program said they wanted to take an active part in the scriptwriting for the plays they perform. Raines said she was surprised they wanted to give up free time to undertake such a project, but she agreed to try it. The children pitch ideas, and the ideas are then formulated into a play by herself or the student staff members.
“Sometimes they go a little off the wall,” Raines said with a laugh. “But it’s fun. It’s a play, not rocket science.”
Innovations, like giving the children the responsibility of scriptwriting, keep the workshop program fresh. Raines said she looks forward to watching the workshop grow and improve under Higginbotham’s leadership, and she has no doubt he will continue to make a difference in the lives of local children.
“If they’re not going to continue in theater later on, they have an appreciation for it,” she said.
