Theatre Program: 4th Avenue Arts

Exciting things are beginning to happen in the Theatre Department here at 4th Avenue Arts! This past Tuesday was our very first music rehearsal for our spring production of The Secret Garden based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. This is a big step for us at 4th Avenue Arts, for it will be the first time our Theatre Department has produced a full length musical! Our students are over the moon excited for this challenge and their director (me) is slightly...ok, I'm flipping out excited as well!

Those first few rehearsals of any new show are always some of my favorite! Everyone walks in the room bubbling with anticipation, excitement, and a sense of wonderment for the magic we could create together. All the actors get to become acquainted with their character 's own idiosyncrasies as well as the way they interact with one another. It is in that time that all kinds of wonderful ideas about who they want their character to be start flowing and growing. In those moments of magic before all the grit of the work begins, the show starts forming without the students even realizing it.

This show, in particular, contains a mystical sensibility about it that is going to allow the actors to enjoy the process of digging deeper in order to tell the story in the best way. Additionally, because this is an educational experience, hopefully they will come out on the other side having learned something new about themselves that they may otherwise never discovered. That is what I love about Theatre, teaching the craft, and the program here at 4th Avenue Arts!