Make room for monsters

BARBARA GREENBERG

DANVILLE May 15, 2006 11:25 am

— Even after the little ones stop believing in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, they may still have a lingering fear of monsters.
That shouldn’t stop parents from taking them to see Red Mask Children’s Theater’s “Monster in the Closet.” This monster plays video games and he’s easily caught while he’s playing them.
Shows will be presented at 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday at the Kathryn Randolph Theater, 601 N. Vermilion St. Tickets are $3. For reservations, call 442-5858.
Rachel Lewis, a fourth-grader at Northeast Magnet Elementary School, plays the girl whose bedroom the monster invades.
“This monster isn’t scary,” she said. “He’s funny. Kids will love the story, and grown-ups will, too.”
Ben Lohrberg, who plays the monster, agreed with Lewis about his character.
“He’s not scary, he’s scared,” the Edison School fourth-grader said. “He may have a green face and horns and fangs, but he’s funny. And he’s scared of kids.”
Lewis’ big brother in the play tries to scare her, too, but that’s also played for laughs.
Spencer Tolson, a Southview Middle School sixth-grader, said, “I’m a typical big brother in the play. I even read her diary.”
Lewis’ character’s bedroom dominates the stage, and the place is a mess. Lewis said it’s a lot like her bedroom at home.
“My sister and I share a room,” she said. “Ours isn’t quite this bad, but it’s close.”
She also shares the stage with her sister, 9-year-old Becca, who plays a dream-weaving fairy who helps bring good dreams to her sister. The two share more than a room offstage.
“We love Northeast,” Becca Lewis, a third-grader at the same school as her sister, said. “We can take Spanish, music, art and P.E.”
The magnet school focuses on the arts, but the girls’ interests are varied. After school, one or both are involved in dance, piano and singing lessons, tennis, basketball and softball.
“We have about one free day a week after school,” Rachel said. “We like everything we do. If we don’t, we stop doing it.”
A large cast of other young actors also made room in their busy lives for play practices. Rehearsals went smoothly thanks to the involvement of adults, according to co-director Gretchen Elliott.
“We have an amazing group of parents,” she said. “This wouldn’t be possible without their support.”
In order for children to act in the show, their parents must volunteer in some capacity with the theater group.
Annie Wright, Elliott’s co-director, previously acted in three Red Mask plays, ran lights for another and also did props before this stint.
“This is my first time directing,” she said. “It was a great opportunity to learn more, to get experience.
“These kids have so much energy, so many ideas, so much talent.”
The play premieres for school groups only starting today. All students in the play have been excused from part of their school day for the sold-out, early-afternoon performances.
The public’s chance to see the show comes with three performances this weekend.

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