Sharon Playhouse Education Program Discovers and Grows Young Talent of all Ages

Professional summer theater productions at the Sharon Playhouse  in Sharon, Conn., lure audiences to the area and have been doing so for years. The advantages to Northwest Corner towns are many.

Now sharing space with that professional theater is an upgraded and enhanced educational program that includes intensive training in the theater arts. For teens, it may be the Youth Theater program. The program’s classes and activities can also accommodate the very young whose artistic leanings are exuberantly unfettered, and the older kids refining their performing skills in acting, voice or movement. Teens continue their progression. There are additional offerings for adults who just plain enjoy a common interest in theater.

Regardless of level — beginning or advanced — each student of any age is discovering theater arts in the playhouse’s education program, buoyed by the instruction of Associate Artistic Director Michael Baldwin, teamed with the dance and acting classes of Education Associate and Company Manager Sarah Cuoco. Additional teachers from Broadway and beyond offer their credentials and talents in voice and acting.

“We’re incredibly proud,” both Baldwin and Cuoco agreed during an interview on Wednesday, June 22, as this summer’s program was getting underway.

The last week of June would bring teens to rehearse the Youth Theater stage production of Jane Austen’s enduring 1813 novel “Pride and Prejudice,” arranged for a modern stage production by Kate Hamill. With just two weeks of rehearsal, the show would open in July. The rehearsal atmosphere during a second visit on Wednesday, June 29, was appropriately intense and positive.

Shows are selected a year in advance.

“The key is to discover what the kids are talking about,” Baldwin said, as an aid to choosing shows. “Pride and Prejudice” promised a good fit.

The play’s message being conveyed by this cast to their 21st-century theater audience is one of timeless social commentary in which the characters deal with rigid personal and societal bias wrapped in a period-costumed story of romance. It’s about discovery and finding humanity waiting beyond the confines of ingrained bias.

“Having a director of education has made a huge difference,” Baldwin said, noting the rapid growth of the program. In light of the success, the theater’s Board of Directors is committed to investing in the program’s expansion. Included is the prospect of the educational program going year-round, adding fall and spring, Baldwin said.

The program has already expanded into offering theater arts education in local schools. Baldwin said that the arts education program is in its second year at Indian Mountain School in Salisbury, Conn., and as an arts residency at Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village, Conn. In the coming year, the youth arts program will be introduced at Sharon Center School.

“He’s a really good director,” cast member Rory Marquis of Millbrook, N.Y., said of Baldwin. “He’s good at giving instruction and he makes it fun.” Members of the cast who were not needed in a rehearsal scene were learning their lines outdoors in the sunshine, eager to speak of their experience in the program.

“It feels more like a camp in the summer,” said Olivia Brooks of Lakeville, Conn. “It also brings us close to the company.” Coming from throughout the region and from New York City, the teens spoke of the value of socializing and getting to know each other. And, that the audition experience had not been pressured.

“We are both of the community,” Baldwin said of himself and Cuoco. “We grew up in Lakeville.

“We have a vested interest in sustaining the opportunities we had as youth,” he added. “Growing up with the Sharon Playhouse was incredible.” At age 10  Baldwin first appeared on the Sharon Playhouse stage.

In his teens he began helping at the box office. From that vantage point, he foresaw expanding the education program to bring young people a  deeper connection with the playhouse.

“We see change at every level,” Baldwin said of the instruction and its effectiveness as students display growing confidence. “It’s the most rewarding thing that we do,” he added.

Across all age groups taking the classes, Baldwin said, whether young people or adults, they leave the Sharon Playhouse a fuller version of themselves.

“They discover themselves,” Cuoco agreed.

“When I was 17,” Baldwin recalled, “I played Humpty Dumpty for a Sharon Youth Theater production. I was on the wall, then I was off the wall. The Sharon Playhouse was the safest, most inclusive place to discover and then to express my true self.”

Cuoco picked up the conversation. “Just being in this environment at the Sharon Playhouse,” she said, “I have met some of my favorite people.”

“Dancers are actors,” she explained, “just as much as actors are actors. You can teach someone a step, but they bring themselves to create a dance.”

Speaking of steps, admitting to stepping onto his imaginary soap box, Baldwin said, “There is no better way to teach collaboration or empathy. People have to work together as an ensemble, to step into someone else’s shoes and life experiences.”

What’s next?

This summer’s production schedule is packed with opportunities for young talent. Upcoming youth productions include “Winnie the Pooh Kids,” “Sharon Playhouse Stars” and “Shrek Jr.”

Future planning includes possible field trips, where groups could be bused to Sharon Playhouse to attend youth performances.

Baldwin also looks ahead to writing original shows for young people and having actors go on tour to area schools.

For more information about the education program and upcoming productions, and to acquire tickets that are going fast, go to: www.sharonplayhouse.org.

Sharon Playouse Associate Artistic Director Michael Baldwin gets young imaginations growling and growing. Photo Submitted

Young dancers don’t need to stand on ceremony with Education Associate and Company Manager Sarah Cuoco. Photo Submitted

Sharon Playouse Associate Artistic Director Michael Baldwin gets young imaginations growling and growing. Photo Submitted