Fifteen years in the making, The Singer’s Theatre has perfected its intensive program model for young performers.
This weekend the theatre company will be performing four shows of the production In the Heights.
Making its debut in Kitchener, In the Heights is a story of an immigrant community in New York City, written by the popular Broadway composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, whose most recent compositions include the production Hamilton and Disney’s Moana.
“It is perfect,” said Amanda Brunk, producer and resident music director. “We have a lot of very specific criteria for shows and it fit all of them so that’s, well, amazing.”
Back with its senior intensive company, The Singer’s Theatre tasks young adults from ages 14-24 with perfecting the set production in two weeks, just in time for the four performances that follow.
With a cast of some of Canada’s most promising young performers, director Gord Davis, the man behind the launch of EDSS’ theatre program, has only ten days to polish a fully staged musical.
After a week and a half of rehearsing, Davis says the group is well on their way to creating a great production.
“This group was really well prepared, they had stuff really down pat,” he said, commenting that rehearsals are going very well.
As a requirement to make the production run smoothly, singers are tasked with the job of learning lines and musical performances prior to attending the program.
Among the 2017 group of performers are Elmira’s Parker Merlihan, 15, Jasmine Thuroo, 17, and Carmen Read, 16.
Despite being on the lower end of the age spectrum for the production, Merlihan plays Kevin, the second oldest character and father to one of the main characters, Mia.
As a first time participant in the senior program, he can’t say enough about the great experience he has had in his first six days.
“I was nervous at first, but everyone here is so very kind and you learn a ton through this,” he said. “It is very intense and it takes a lot of work, you’ve got to be there all of the time and keep attention, but its really fun. The last two weeks have been the most fun I have had probably all year.”
Although he’s acted in other productions, including at the Stratford Festival, he has not done a production of this magnitude before in this short amount of time, usually having closer to three months to prepare rather than a quick 10 days.
As Thuroo and Read are both returning participants to The Singer’s Theatre, the two agree this time around has gone extremely well … for an intensive program.
“I feel like everyone is more focused on the goal this time, they are very prepared and everyone is extremely driven. It is really great to see,” Thuroo said. “The energy really rubs off on you, and I find that it has really just helped the process. We are just flying through things, and it is amazing.”
While each will be rounding out the ensemble, Thuroo is also a feature dancer in the program and has parts in duets.
In addition to their intense rehearsal schedule, during the two-week program there are mini-workshops and daily vocal and physical exercises.
Among the local contingency are performers from across the province and even throughout Canada – including Vancouver Island and Calgary.
In the Heights and Davis’ production are reminiscent of the group’s first show, says Brunk.
“We have been going for a while now, so it is kind of a celebration of a great 15 years. The set that he has developed for this show is reminiscent of our first show that we did.”
Looking back at that first year, Davis says that although the quality of the end product hasn’t changed, those who take it there have.
“I think the quality hasn’t changed – we have done a lot of really high-quality shows,” he said. “We are attracting an older group, as well as the younger group. The first couple of years it was mainly high school students, but now we have got people who are in vocal programs at the university and I would say that right now we are having a little more of that influence, which is nice too.”
But even after 15 years it is those performers that make Davis keep coming back.
“The first one that I had done was during the first year I had retired and it just gave me a chance to still work with this age group. I love doing it,” he said.
“I have said this over and over again: this age group doesn’t have the word impossible in their vocabulary, so they can just do anything.”
The group will put on shows Friday, Saturday and this year, an additionalSunday performance at the Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts in Kitchener.
A dollar from each ticket sold will be donated to Mennonite Coalition for Refugee Support for the group’s work with a growing immigrant community in the region.
More information can be found online at www.thesingerstheatre.ca.
