Published: September 10, 2006 12:00 am      

Red Mask nurtures young actors

Every child who auditions gets a part

DANVILLE — Community theater requires a commitment that challenges adults with full-time jobs and other obligations. It takes the same dedication for children’s shows as ones starring adults. For some families, these plays become a family affair.

Twice a year, Red Mask Players presents children’s theater, a program Jean Lewis began in 1962. Red Mask’s home, the theater on North Vermilion Street, bears Lewis’ mother’s name — Kathryn Randolph. Now in its 70th year, the community theater group continues to provide creative opportunities for children as well as for adults.

“Blather, Blarney and Balderdash,” the latest Red Mask children’s play, opens Friday at the Kathryn Randolph Theatre. In keeping with a tradition established by Lewis, every child who auditions for the fall play gets a part. This cast includes more than 50 children in grades 3-8 from throughout the area.

Much like the legendary mother-daughter combination of Randolph and Lewis, new generations of family members continue to appear on the Red Mask stage and work behind the scenes before and during performances.

Tammy McGehee made her stage debut when she was 10 years old. She’d never been in a play before, but she landed the part of Alice Roosevelt in “Bully, My Boys,” an early Red Mask children’s show.

“It was my first time onstage,” McGehee said, “and I had 82 lines.”

Now she’s the mother of two daughters about the same age as she was when she became involved in theater. It occurred to her that her girls might enjoy acting as much as she had.

“Jasmyn, my younger daughter, loved to put on skits. I thought the idea would appeal to her,” McGehee said. “But my older daughter, Jordyn, was more on the shy side. I wasn’t so sure about her, but she was just as interested as her sister.”

The two girls auditioned a year ago and were cast as boys in “Twinderella.”

“I told them to do their best, and they did,” their mom said. “They got better parts in the next show (“Monster in the Closet”). Now they’re in this one, and they love it.”

The two girls acknowledged their mother’s influence in their decision to audition the first time, but since then it’s been strictly their choice.

“Mom used to do plays,” older daughter Jordyn Goodman, 11 years old, said. “She asked us if we wanted to try the first time. After that, we knew we wanted to do it.”

Her 9-year-old sister, Jasmyn Goodman, agreed. “I like how much fun this is: the makeup, the costumes, the friends you make.”

Not only are the two girls having fun — their mother is, too.

Every parent with a child in the plays must help in some way, and McGehee has been involved right along with her daughters in their three shows. This time, she co-directs “Blather, Barney and Balderdash,” with Amy Wharton.

“I played sports when I was growing up,” she said. “This is a lot like coaching a sport.

“Kids come in with no confidence. You tell them, ‘You can do it!’ and they do.”

Jordyn said her mom leads by example.

“Even when she messes up, she has fun,” the North Ridge student said. “She showed us you don’t have to be scared.”

“I love children,” McGehee said. “Not just my own, but all of them.”



FYI

Red Mask Children’s Theater presents “Blather, Blarney and Balderdash” at the Kathryn Randolph Theatre, 601 N. Vermilion St., at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 15; 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 17. Tickets are $3 and may be reserved by calling 442-5858 or purchased at the theater prior to each performance.