BY DANI TIETZ
dani@mahometnews.com
Urbana, Ill – Time away from school during the summer months often means time away from friends.
But something special is happening through the Urbana Park District’s Youth Theatre program this summer: 15 Mahomet-Seymour students are rekindling old friendships and making new ones, too, as they prepare for their upcoming performance of “Into the Woods” July 25-28.
The group started preparing for their performance at the Harold & Jean Miner Theatre at Parkland College before the final bell of the 2019 school year rang.
“We’ve been here like all summer,” Mahomet-Seymour senior Zoe Hovde said. “We were here throughout finals for high school students and we are here late (into the night) sometimes.”
The draw for many of the Mahomet-Seymour actors was knowing that their peers would be in the show, too.
In his fifth show with the Urbana Park District, M-S Senior Payton Ade said, “I come back because I just really enjoy hanging with the people that are always here.”
Mallory Birckbichler feels the same way.
“I keep coming back because I love to work with the same people and new people in this program,” she said.
Urbana Park District Youth Theatre newcomers include fifth-grade student Delia Stout, eighth-grader Izzy Fonte, sophomore Mallory Fonte and sixth-grader Makala Sauro.
“I do voice and piano, and my voice instructor introduced me to (Into the Woods), so I thought it would be fun,” Stout said.
The Fontes were encouraged by friends to spend their summer months on stage.
“I just ended up trying out for ensemble because I just kind of wanted to ease into it,” Izzy said. “Because I’ve never done anything like this before, especially over the summer.”
Through the time she’s devoted to practice, Izzy has not only spent time with her friends, but has also been able to strengthen her voice.
Mallory was anxious to get back on stage after having to sit out Mahomet-Seymour High School’s production of Les Miserables.
“The last time I was on stage was December which for me that’s a very very long time,” Mallory said. “So I really just want to be able to have that feeling again and be able to get back on stage to not only improve my acting all around but also able to improve for things like playing other stuff at school.”
Opportunities to perform at Mahomet-Seymour are what have helped many of the actors feel like they have a place in the world.
“I started my freshman year of high school, and I decided to do it because I felt like I didn’t really fit in anywhere else,” Hovde said. “I decided drama club would be a good place for me to start to meet some new friends, especially going into high school and meet people that have the same like interests as me.”
Hovde said summer theatre gives them a chance to see each other in a new way.
“I definitely like coming here and seeing kids I know from school,” she said. “I may have talked to them like maybe like twice a week before and I talked to them every day. And then I get to like learn more about them, or more about their personal lives and they learn more about me.”
Alexis Young said summer theatre also helps performers see something new in each other.
“Sometimes they’re in a role during the school year where their talents aren’t shown and you really don’t know how well they can act,” she said.
“And then you see them in a different role working with a different director compared to at school where we’re working with mostly the same directors every year, all four years of high school.
“In the summer, when you’re working with a different director, it’s really fun to kind of see different parts of them that come out.”
Incoming freshmen Madison Ade participated in “Twinderella” with Jenna Ledin, Lukas Nykaza and Izzy Fonte in the spring.
“It’s interesting seeing our various parts being portrayed, and the way we do it differently from play to musical,” she said.
In her third year at the Urbana Park District’s Youth Theatre, recent M-S graduate Karli Waldrep will play the part of Milky White, a cow.
“I really like it because I get to crawl around on all fours on stage,” she said. “My favorite part of it is I get to put in so much character. I have the freedom to do basically whatever I want on stage, and I just get to have a lot of fun with it.”
M-S junior Kyle Widener is excited to play alongside Waldrep in this role. His character, Jack is the keeper of Milky White.
“It’s weird because (Karli) is not an actual real animal,” he said. “But it’s easier to connect with Karli than it would be to connect with an animal because she puts so much emotion into it. It’s really fun to work with her.”
Roles like this have helped some of the Mahomet-Seymour actors to come out of their shells over the years.
“When you’re not acting, you can make the choice to either be loud and proud or just stand in one place,” Leah Nykaza said.
“But when you’re acting, you have to put yourself out there in so many ways that you wouldn’t in other walks of life. So it’s really fun to kind of explore yourself while you’re exploring getting into your characters.”
Alexis Meeker said this has translated into life for her.
“It’s just made me more extroverted,” she said. “In acting, you have to just put everything out there. So it just makes you get really comfortable with showing everybody what you have.”
But for M-S junior Samantha Hamilton, being part of any production, whether at school or in youth theatre, is about seeing something new through a character’s eyes.
“I like getting the mood for different characters and feeling what they feel and being determined to go into the woods to find something, but in reality, it’s a totally different thing,” Hamilton said.
For some of the actors, it was watching stars or performers on the big stage that helped them see something inside themselves that they wanted to explore.
“I saw Phantom of the Opera live in St. Louis,” Jenna Ledin said. “And it was really good and I wanted to act ever since.”
In her debut at the Urbana Park District, Makala Sauro decided to join the summer production because her mom read “Into the Woods” with her.
Sauro, who will play Wendy from Peter Pan, said things are starting to come together.
“I’m pretty confident that it’s going to look good and people are going to like it because at first we were very lost and now we can run through the whole play,” Sauro said.
Appearing in his second musical, Lucas Nykaza is feeling excited about the upcoming show.
“I think I got mostly everything down,” he said. “It’s really been a good experience for me.”
Mahomet-Seymour actors will be on stage on July 25-27 at 7 p.m. and July 28 at 2:30 p.m. There will also be a special matinee with limited scenes on July 27 at 2 p.m.
Ticket prices are $7 for children 12-and-younger, $10 for students and seniors and $14 for adults. Tickets are available by phone at 217-367-1544, in person at the Phillips Recreation Center or online at https://squareup.com/store/
