Byron Center — With school out for the summer, Byron Center students spent the last three months learning from their Van Singel Fine Arts Center community theater castmates.
Directors, choreographers and community members became students and teachers, learning a thing or two from one another while performing the musical comedy, “Annie.”
BCHS class of 2024 graduate Morgan Keiser said he learned a lot playing flashy, self-assured Rooster alongside Marshall Elementary music teacher Meghan Furney, as Miss Hannigan the orphanage matron, and choreographer Jocelyn Metcalf, as Lily St. Regis, Rooster’s girlfriend.
“I’ve learned to be more comfortable with myself and my acting,” he said. “When you’re very over the top, you have to trust yourself and learn how to build confidence.”
Metcalf, an Integrity Dance Arts studio teacher, became the student when she had the chance to play a character different from those she had been used to playing on stage.
“I was always in a child role or serious adult role, and this is cool to expand and explore different sides of myself,” she said. “This has been a full-circle kind of show for me, getting to work with my former teacher and having my own dance students play orphans in this show.”
Rising sixth-grader Lillian Peters, who played one of the scrappy orphans, said participating in community theater provided her the opportunity to learn new things and “be a part of something great.”
“It’s really so amazing and it’s really a beautiful thing to have people who are older (than you) who can give you advice and help with support when you’re feeling down,” she said.
D.J. Willard, Van Singel Fine Arts Foundation president, said it was a new challenge for his acting skills to develop the trio of characters he plays in “Annie:” Bert Healy, President Roosevelt and Hooverville Man One.
“All three characters are very different, so I appreciate the challenge of being able to stretch myself and bring them all to life on stage,” he said.
Joel Hondorp, Van Singel Fine Arts Foundation member and Grand Rapids City Clerk, sees community theater as a strong leg of a “three-legged stool” alongside athletics and academics at Byron Center Public Schools.
“Historically in schools, there is always a focus on sports and academics. Our superintendent and principals have been great supporters of the arts and we have seen success between all three,” he said.
Added Willard: “What I think is really unique about our environment here is we have opened the door for individuals to develop their skills in the arts. Youth and high-school levels graduate into community theatre, all in one system.”
Read more from Byron Center:
• School musical offers students new experiences
• It takes a community to stage a musical
