Five days into the Olympic Theatre Arts’ spring two-week youth theater program, children were already rehearsing the four interconnected plays that will become the upcoming performance, “Plays From African Folktales.”
Following workshops that according to OTA help youth learn “all aspects of the theatre, from acting, directing, stage management and design, to running crews and stage crafts,” and a whirlwind of a production schedule, OTA will will host the four interconnected plays at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m on Saturday, April 6, and 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 7.
The play will have an intermission with drinks and snacks for sale. Tickets are $10, purchased at the door or ahead of time at olympictheatrearts.org.
Marissa Meek, co-director of the youth program with Taylor Dowley, said that the plays are retold by playwright Carol Korty from folktales originating in Sudan, Ghana and Nigeria, with an Ananse the Spider tale that visits via Jamaica.
“All of the characters are animals who live in the same village and so actors appear in several plays as villagers as well as in their primary roles,” Meek said. “A few play more than one role.”
Meek, formerly a youth drama teacher in Texas, has been directing youth productions here in Sequim since 2022, working with Dowley on multiple occasions. This year a new person has joined the duo: Dowley’s -3-and-a-half-month-old baby, who Meek said is “less fussy than me.”
Photo by Emily Matthiessen / Marissa Meek holds the attention of her young students half-way through Olympic Theatre Arts’ most recent iteration of the youth program. Meek, who has more than 27 years of youth theater instructor experience, is co-directing with Taylor Dowling the program’s production of “Plays From African Folktales.”
Meek said that Laura Starcevich and Shaina Lent are teaching workshops about improvisation, physical and vocal coordination.
Both Dowley and Meek spoke glowingly of Judith Griffin, who Meek explained “has spent substantial time in Ghana and is providing costumes, some props and a wealth of knowledge.”
Griffin said that she worked with Meek on the Christmas program. “I love working with Marissa.”
Griffin said she started at the theater as a prompter then began helping in other ways.
“For this particular one I’m a resource because the theme is Africa … I have a double role, prompter and resource person,” Griffin said, explaining that she spent a good deal of time in Ghana running a small children’s home for orphans.
“I was the mom, even though I’m 80-plus,” she said.
Of the 25 young thespians, Meek said 19 will appear on stage and the other six are performing “technical roles,” including stage manager, costumes and makeup, sound, lights and projections, as well serving as stage hands.
Griffin said that each one specializes (in a type of tech) and the others help them at times.
“Students in the program are working on makeup designs, will be painting the set and creating and locating most of the props,” Meek said.
“A student will also be stage managing, operating lights, sound and projections.”
Addie Slezak, primary make-up artist, as she practiced her designs on faces printed on sheets of paper, guided by the vision of the children playing the characters, said she chose to be in tech rather than out on the stage.
“I like acting but this is more fun for me because I get to be creative and I get to be backstage helping,” Slezak said.
After five days of workshops, auditioning and receiving their scripts, some of the children had already memorized their lines, including Julian Medlong, who portrays the Rat.
He said that he got the part he wanted; “I love rats so much,” he explained.
Medlong said that all rats are smart, including his character. He said his favorite part of this experience is getting into character.
Photo by Emily Matthiessen / Chief make-up artist Addie Slezak and friend Macee Warner work on designs with Judy Griffin for the upcoming production “Plays From African Folktales.” Slezak is one of six participants in the two-week theater program who chose to work on tech backstage while the other 19 children will perform the play for local audiences.
The children came to the program with a range of experience, from completely new to theater to others with past experience at OTA — including Roan Curren, who plays Ananse the spider, famous trickster god, which was the part she wanted.
“I really like acting,” Curren said, “because I like pretending in the costumes.”
“It’s a fun play to be in,” Arwen Osborne said.
“All of the plays are humorous but teach lessons about friendship, honesty, being true to yourself, gullibility, being too quick to anger and so on,” Meek said.
For the youth of the community, other lessons are being learned, practical ones in the art and craft of theater as the elders of OTA continue to pass down their wisdom each year, as can be heard from Meek as she flys from duty to duty around the theater, dropping lines like: “Every minute counts, especially the last minute,” and “blocking makes a huge difference where you are in space,” and “whatever’s going on on stage is the most important thing.”
‘Plays From African Folktales’
Olympic Theatre Arts’ youth production
When: 2 p.m., 7 p.m. Saturday, April 6; 2 p.m. Sunday, April 7
Where: Olympic Theatre Arts, 414 N. Sequim Ave.
Tickets: $10
On the web: olympictheatrearts.org
