FAYETTEVILLE — Performers like being talked to while on stage, as long as it’s done the correct way, Patricia Relph told participants of the Walton Arts Center Family First Nights program on Saturday.
“Make sure you talk to the actors with your applause, with your laughter,” said Relph, the center’s arts learning specialist.
Relph gave a brief overview of how the theater works, before a matinee performance of Mary Poppins for families participating in Operation Renewal, a program dedicated tostrengthening families of National Guardsmen and Reservists.
Friends Mackenzie Hackett, 4, and Emily Hernandez, 5, followed Relph as she described theater scenes depicted in a mural by artist Ken Stout. Relph said the second-floor lobby mural, which was painted 20 years ago, tells the story of the theater from the lobby to backstage.
Relph was assisted by head carpenter Alex Newbie and assistant carpenter and electrician Jonathan Meyer. Newbie and Meyer spoke about helping put on this traveling Broadway production, the sets for which travel on nine tractor-trailers.
Family First Night is part of national program by the New York-based Broadway League, a national trade association of the theater industry. A league spokesman said the group provided scholarships ranging from $2,000 to $4,000 to 17 cities outside New York.
The scholarships allow people who might never see a Broadway show to attend a production.
The league awarded the Walton Arts Center $4,000 to cover most of the cost for the tickets, said Beth Goodwin, arts center spokesman.
Instead of paying an average of $75 per ticket for this musical, families paid $5 per ticket, Goodwin said. The program also included workshops before and after the performance and allowed the families a chance to meet with some of the actors, she said.
“It’s a great way to encourage people that might not otherwise get to see a Broadway show to come to the theater and experience the arts,” Goodwin said.
The center was expecting seven families with Operation Renewal and two from the Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Northwest Arkansas, which helps pay expenses for qualifying applicants who are pursuing higher education.
Operation Renewal founder Ron Dilbert said he was excited by the prospect of providing families access toBroadway performances because he saw how important it was to his own son.
Dilbert, who is originally from New York, said he still fondly remembers taking his son to see Cats, his first Broadway show. He said during intermission, audience members were invited on stage to view the scenery and “pet” one of the costumed actors. The excitement of that experience lasted for weeks, Dilbert said.
But there are many people in the military who haven’t seen a Broadway show, much less taken their family, Dilbert said. Operation Renewal is focused on strengthening families of guardsmen and reservists by helping them build a support group and giving them opportunities to life outside their daily challenges, he said.
“We get so involved in oureveryday routines you kind of forget you’re a family,” he said. “So to get families together who are going through deployments or having been through deployments, to get them together is really exciting for us.”
Dilbert said that while the families paid $5 for each ticket, they try to cover the cost of programs geared toward helping families stay together through deployments. He said information about those programs can be found at operationrenewal.org.
For families with the Single Parent Scholarship, the shows help reinforce the parent’s goal of building a better life, said Jody Dilday, executive director of the local affiliate, which serves Carroll, Madison and Washington counties.
“When you’re living on one income, if any, whileyou’re going to college, which is quite expensive, there’s just not a lot of money left for nice things,” Dilday said.
More information about the scholarship program can be found at spsfnwa.org.
Stacey and Thomas Hackett, Mackenzie’s grandparents, were among the Operation Renewal Families who arrived early enough to attend the pre-show talk, and were pleased to bring Mackenzie and Emily to their first Broadway performance.
Thomas Hackett said Mackenzie’s father is currently on active duty in an undisclosed area of Afghanistan. Hackett said he’s been deployed many times in his 30 years in the military and works with other soldiers to help them transition between deployments and civilian life.
Stacey Hackett said she didn’t have the kind of support group when Thomas Hackett was fighting in Desert Storm, though she would have embraced it.
Hackett said military families can be great resources for one another, which is why this type of program is so beneficial.
“Whether they’re deployed or not, it’s important to spend time together,” Hackett said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 17 on 04/22/2012