UTRGV Children’s Theater workshop is back in motion after 6 years
The UTRGV Theater Department performed Dorothy and Friends in Oz. Friday as part of a children’s theater workshop.
The performance took place in the Albert L. Jeffers Theater in the Edinburg Liberal Arts South.
Brian Warren, a UTRGV professor in the Theater Department, said, the performance is a final exam of sorts.
“It is part of [the] class Children’s Theater workshop,” Warren said. “So [the students’] final exam is this show. And all 20 of them have done something for the show.”
Every student involved contributed something, whether it be costume design or tech.
Warren explained the class helps students get hands-on experience working with kids in a theater environment, especially those who take the teaching route. The theater department also casted children from the community to star alongside the Vaqueros.
“We used to cast … a lot of community children in shows like this, to work with our college student performers,” the professor said. “I found it to be very valuable.”
But when COVID-19 struck, this program was put to a halt. After six years, children have finally been invited back to participate in the workshop.
“Our new dean is enlightened and progressive, and I asked him once, ‘Hey, what if I brought back some children to be in the show?’,” he said.
Warren added he finds it viable that they work around children, especially in shows.
Elena Ledezma, a theater senior, is taking the children’s theater workshop class. She directed the show and said it was a wonderful learning experience.
“After the pandemic, we didn’t know what was going to happen to this class, and now we’re figuring out,” Ledezma said. “It has, so far, been an amazing experience to be working with the kids.”
The show was a reimagining of The Wizard of Oz. Although not completely straying away from the source material, there were creative liberties Warren took when making the script.
“I think it’s a classic story, and there were a lot of opportunities for creativity with costumes, lights and the characters,” he said. “In my version of the play, the several winged monkeys talk to the witch. Just a lot of creative possibilities in the show.”
Warren uses a forest elf or a duende throughout the show, which messes with Dorothy and the gang. The duende is later revealed to be the Wizard.
The children involved in the show mostly play ensemble parts, but those parts are essential to the show.
One of the children in the show, Mateo Acosta, plays Charles and Monkey.
“It’s been really fun. I’ve learned a lot from all the actors, especially Tanner [Mott]. I’ve learned how to project [and] do a lot of tongue twisters to help my voice,” Acosta said.
Mateo Acosta’s mother, Marcia Gonzales, said seeing the love he has for theater has filled her heart.
“Since he was little, we have tried different things to see what he likes, and the first time he stepped into a theater to see his first show was just an eye-opener,” Gonzales said.
She said she makes sure to be there every step of Mateo’s dream.
“Seeing him on stage for the first time, he just lit up completely, and so I knew that’s what he really loved,” Gonzales said.
Tanner Mott, a theater performance freshman, who plays the scarecrow in the show, said he thinks it’s very important for both children and students to have this experience.
“There’s not a lot of places where college students and children get to be in the same production,” Mott said. “It’s a really cool opportunity for them that we were able to have them involved with this show and all of the kids here are so amazing. “You can see their growth just throughout the show, especially in the past couple of weeks alone.”
Alma Caballero, a theater performance sophomore who plays Dorothy, said working with the kids has kept them in line.
“Working with the kids helps us gain that level of professionalism that we don’t normally have,” Caballero said. “I hope [the kids] gain a love for theater. I hope they gain a sense of creativity and hope for themselves as growing actors.”
