Three Weeks Of 'Fame'

Baylee Browning doesn't think the Trike Theatre production of "Fame Jr." will be what audiences expect.

"I would encourage them to come," the 15-year-old says. "I think it can be very interesting to see such young actors being so professional."

Bailey has been part of the Trike Summer Musical Theatre Production Camp for the four years it has been in existence, learning her way through "Into the Woods," "Annie," "Seussical" and now the play director Jason Suel calls "the original 'High School Musical.'" It's the story of students enrolled at New York's High School of the Performing Arts in the 1980s and follows them from their freshman year through their senior year. In a much shorter transition, youngsters in the production camp spend three weeks studying in the morning and rehearsing in the afternoon.

"It gives students a well-rounded experience of what it's like to be part of a theater company," Suel says. "Lighting, set design, stage management, makeup, stage combat -- it's letting them know being a student of the theater is more than just being on stage."

Participants, Suel says, "run the gamut of experienced and novice -- which is one of the beautiful things. Students who have been with us all four years help bring the newbies up to speed. The structure hasn't changed over the four years, so they know what to expect and can tell the new people. It's become kind of a well-oiled machine at this point."

Baylee, a sophomore at the Arkansas Arts Academy, says she's "learned how to work well with other people and with other actors my age. I've learned to be loud, to get out there and come out of my shell.

"Theater is something anyone can do. That's what is so much fun," she says. "It's always a learning process, no matter how much you've done it."

Like the characters in "Fame Jr.," Baylee aspires to continue performing.

"I would like to be a theater teacher or continue acting for as long as I can," she says. "I really love the stage, but I would love to try out film."

"What's really neat to me this year is that some of these kids have grown with this all four years," Suel says. "So to see their progression is really exciting. We're able to push them further. They're older and more mature."

And of Baylee, Suel says simply, "she's fantastic."

-- Becca Martin-Brown

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