May 4, 2018

Inclusive cast featured in local youth production of ‘The Wizard of Oz’

REGIONAL
Story and photos by Rebecca Drake

 

 

EAST LONGMEADOW – The story of Dorothy Gale’s journey to the magical Land of Oz, and back home again to Kansas, is one of the most beloved in the history of American musical theater.

But a local theater group is bringing a new perspective to an old favorite. Directed by Rose Stella, religious education director of St. Michael Parish, here, the St. Michael’s Youth Players’ May 18-20 production of “The Wizard of Oz” features actors of all abilities, thanks to a suggestion from Agawam resident Dee Ward.

“For me, I love theater and I work with youth,” Ward said. “I’ve been working with kids for years and years and years, and I really liked the idea of being able to say that everybody belongs on stage, everybody has a place on stage.”

Ward, who is director of programs for Girls, Inc., in Holyoke, mentioned the idea of an inclusive theater project to Stella more than a year ago.

“My first reaction was, ‘No! I can’t do one more thing,’” Stella recalled. “And yet, from the moment she spoke it, it sort of kept revisiting my heart.”

Like Ward, Stella had previous experience working with special needs students, including performing as a college student with the former Jericho Players, a group for developmentally disabled youngsters directed by Sister of St. Joseph Catherine Homrok. The Jericho Players was a ministry of the Bureau for Exceptional Children and Adults in Holyoke.

“Working with those people was one of the greatest joys of my life,” said Stella. She also worked at a summer camp for special needs children while she was teaching. “And so that’s where I found out that people with disabilities are really perfect and it’s us who have the disabilities.”

With Ward as assistant director, and longtime St. Michael’s Players music director Frank Jackson, the young performers are doing more than learning lines, songs and dance steps.

“When working with other people of different ages or people that work slower, faster, it’s just so fun because we get to teach them and they get to teach us a little bit about themselves,” said East Longmeadow teen Ashley Fonte, a member of St. Michael Parish. “But we mostly just get to help them out and just have a blast, like with anything, and there’s no messing up because we’re always just having fun together.”

Fonte is paired with Erin Curran, who has Down syndrome. Curran said she loves “The Wizard of Oz” movie and loves working with her new friend, Ashley. “She holds your hand, and I sing and laugh. She’s my sweetheart,” Curran said.

Fonte also had praise for Curran. “I think Erin is so great,” she said. “She’s always smiling. She’s always on stage dancing and singing. She knows all the words.”

The production has been especially rewarding for parents of the special needs children.

“She is so excited. When she heard about it, she definitely wanted to come in and try out and she was excited when she got the news she was going to be a Munchkin and she’s ready for the next play,” said East Longmeadow resident Lori Lange, whose daughter is autistic.

“I just think that, since the first day, the cast has been wonderful,” Lange said. “All the young actors have been so welcoming, and helping, and shadowing the children that may need a little extra help. And we’re really excited to have it come to fruition in a few weeks. And we’re just grateful to have the opportunity to have our children be in such a wonderful production.”

Watching the teens form new friendships and create community together also has been gratifying for the show’s directors.

“I hope the show’s great, but I really feel like it’s about building relationships,” said Ward, “and I feel like we’ve done that and I think we’re both pretty proud of that.”

For Stella, the inclusive production also is an extension of her Christian faith.

“Actually, I think theater is a great replication of what the kingdom should be, because each person brings their own talent to work toward a greater good,” she said. “And I think the spirit rises in rehearsals when people start to meet, community starts to be built and the spirit takes over and we become way more than the strangers we were when we walked in the door. We become friends. We become family really.”

And after a long career in education and many years of community theater experience, Stella said the play has taken her life’s work to a new level.

“I’ve directed children with special needs or disabilities, I’ve directed children in elementary school, in middle school. But to pair them together and to watch them love each other is such a gift,” she said. “And I think this is the best thing I’ve ever done – and it was the last thing I wanted to do originally.”

And the directors hope that audience members will appreciate the message of love and inclusion they are working to convey.

“I hope the message that it sends is that we all belong, we all have a place,” said Ward. “And so I think that what we’re trying to get across is that every one of us deserves the right to be loved, every one of us deserves the right to participate and to be included.”

And, holding hands with her friend, Curran, Fonte said the audience will “just have so much fun watching it” and “they’ll warm their hearts.”

“The Wizard of Oz” will be performed at St. Michael’s Community Center, 53 Somers Rd., East Longmeadow, on Friday and Saturday, May 18 and 19 at 7 p.m., and on Sunday, May 20 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students and seniors. For advance tickets, call 413-650-2906 or visit the St. Michael’s Players website.

A video version of this story will be featured on the Springfield Diocese’s weekly newsmagazine, “Real to Reel,” which airs at at the special time of 6:30 a.m. this Sunday, May 6 on WWLP-22NEWS.