Transcript
Wisconsin Rapids Community Theatre Summer Youth Programs ‘25
Rapids Report · Wed Apr 30, 2025
Hello all, welcome to WFHR's Rapids Report for this April 30th, 2025.
Have your host, James J. Mailov here, welcoming into the studio.
One of our favorite people, our good friend, executive director,
Wisconsin Rapids Community Theater, Gretchen Powers.
Gretchen, good to have you with us.
It's great to be back, James.
Always good talking with you.
I will do the job that I have and make us focused on certain things.
So you and I don't go into side tangents about our favorite plays or something
along those lines because Gretchen and I get in the same room together.
We're going to ramble, we're going to talk about other stuff.
We got a job to do and we're actually really looking forward to this.
We get the chance to do this every once in a while, really put a focus on the kids
plays, the children's theater, something that you know better than most about
being one of the forefathers of it and everything.
And the people that really got this started around here in this area.
I want to dive into the plays that are available for these kids and get into a
little bit about what parents and kids should know if they want to audition in some
of that. So let's kick off right away with the plays, Gretchen.
All right.
So this year we're doing something very different.
We've always kind of just done one or two shows and had a lot of kids come
and last year we had 64 kids in Newsy and it was ages 8 to 18.
And it was amazing and wonderful.
But I feel like the one downside of that is that you lose the ability to get
more out of it with all those kids in it.
And so one thing that we've decided to do is break it apart into different
age groups and do things that are more focused on their on their abilities.
So basically, so the first show will be ages 8 to 11 and we are doing a play,
a musical called Disney's Dare to Dream and then our teens ages 12 through 19.
Let me point that out there is that we're also allowing kids who are in
college for the first year to come back to make them feel like they always have
a home here.
And so ages 12 to 19 are doing the school edition of West Side Story.
I did my homework.
I swear everybody before this I did I have to admit I missed that.
The ages 12 through 19 thing and you said that Gretchen.
My heart started to say that's beautiful.
What a great idea.
The kudos to you guys.
That's a really cool idea and a very smart idea is what you that ladder part
you said that about bringing kids back and they come back.
They're going to promote the theater.
They're going to talk about the theater, maybe bring new people to the theater.
Very smart idea.
That's really cool.
I like that.
Yeah, but there's some kids that it's just I hate seeing them go away.
And I always want them to come back.
And you know, when they graduate from college, I'd love for them to be to make WRCT
their home as well.
As for it's also just great because we picked a show that has a little bit
more sensitive topics.
And so having those 8 to 11 year olds in that show wouldn't make any sense at
all.
Yeah.
So they get the fun Disney, lots of songs, lots of singing, lots of dance and
bright colors.
And the teens get to tell a story with a wonderful message.
And and a point in one, too, one that has is still, you know,
appable today.
Yeah.
And it's it's something that we can never stop learning from the main messages
is to not hate, especially because of your race or your color.
There are some actually it's kind of interesting.
I've heard some teenagers talking, well, I'm not auditioning for that because
that show promotes racism.
And I'm like, okay, let's slow the bus down here because that show is the opposite
of promotion of racism.
It literally is teaching you that there were these problems at another point in
history because it doesn't take place in the 1950s, 60s.
And that problem is not gone yet.
And we need constant reminders that you need to love that you need.
There you should not hate.
It's it's not only still relevant to us here in our area or anything like
that.
It's still relevant around the world.
That's why they did a remake of the movie because it was still pointed
to producers, directors, all these people decided that this is still
pointing to day and did it.
It's one of the more well written plays too that doesn't really that part of
it doesn't get talked about very often, but it's it's a good one.
And Eddie Young H to be a little bit a part of something like that.
It's a feather in the cat.
It's a nice thing to have on the resume, along with all the other things you
were saying.
They're right.
Mario is one of my dream roles.
And I remember when I was a children child, a children and children's
theater, a child and children's theater, they would say, oh, we'll never do
that here.
Well, guess what everyone.
Nice.
We are.
Nice.
And things wrap up with our kids plays with a production by Hopo, which is
very fitting.
Yeah.
So we also have our Hopo play.
And that's a little bit more of a short time frame for people who maybe have
more going on in the summer.
It is not a musical.
It's just I don't want to say it's just a play because it's not just a play.
It's a hilarious show.
I'm called the brother's grim spectacular on and it has I read it.
It has so many characters with a lot going on and Stephanie
hearth is directing that and she is going to do phenomenal as she always does.
I would say between the two of you, there's nobody who I would rather have my
kid being directed by the newer stuff.
And you guys are fantastic at this and not surprising.
Consider you both started this.
We have not lost a child yet.
That's a great tag like that's a great like a tag like anything involving
the brother's grim is going to be fun and interesting.
And there's a character that has no hands.
And I want to play that part.
Yeah, that's like the man's tough.
And if not enough kids show up, I have to play the part.
Yeah, if you don't, then I want to play the devil's grandmother.
I want to say if their roles are available, which I have a feeling they won't be
because man, kids show up for these shows.
We are so blown away by the amount of kids that show up to audition for these
shows and keep in mind was something like this.
If you're worried about your kid having a part or something along those lines,
well, there's like almost 40 characters in just this play.
And these plays are designed in part.
I talk about this a lot during a with sports about a player's coach.
Right now we have a player's coach in charge over at WRC T.
Gretchen has literally been through all these steps, whether it's a child
actor, a teenage actor, or an adult actor.
And with that, you have an understanding of not only what it's like to be an
actor to want audition for these things at multiple ages, but what it's like to
be a parent to get a child to auditions or any of these other factors that
I'm not saying we haven't had other executive directors that thought of these
things, but I don't think we've had somebody who's literally doing them right
now. And so you are very up in you're in tune with this stuff.
So the play choices come with all of that.
And I think that's really for one cool, but I also think it's really great
for parents out there to keep in mind with their kids that if you have any
concerns or interest or questions, Gretchen's probably thought of them herself as
a parent and reach out.
Yes, you can be contact me.
You can reach me through Facebook or my email, CDW, RCT,
at Salaris.net and my phone number is 715-421-0435.
Get that information out there again one more time before we wrap up.
Along those lines, Gretchen, if somebody's new to auditioning or a new
parent out there listening that wants to get their kid involved, there's some
things that will be good to keep in mind before auditioning.
Our auditions try to be as lead back as possible and keep in mind we are doing
things a little differently this year just for the dare to dream.
The other shows should go pretty normal to how our auditions always have gone.
But I'm going to kind of focus on dare to dream right here for that because I
want this to be as painless as possible for those kids.
And so what we're doing is we're having them sign up in different time slots
instead. And so their audition will only take about a half hour.
And then you'll be able to leave.
You won't have to stay there till eight o'clock.
You basically, you come will sing some songs, one will probably do a warm up song
together. And then I'm going to have each kid sing a little something.
And I'd say come prepared with something.
Know a song that you want to sing.
It doesn't have to be from the musical.
It is a lot of the normal Disney songs.
I know that part of your world isn't it?
And how far I'll go from a mo, wow.
Hello, how far I'll go from Moana.
And then let it go from frozen.
There's all sorts of songs that you could sing.
You could even sing Happy Birthday, even though my birthday is not until October.
But it's never bad to get it in a really.
I'm glad you referenced that though.
It's that I know that I've only done like two or three singing auditions.
And I'm pretty sure one of them I did sing Happy Birthday.
I'm pretty sure this is all like I came up with.
They put me on the spot.
But it's a great, it's a great one.
And it I think if I can one of the things that you're hitting on Gretchen that I
think is to take away from this is something you feel like you know and that
maybe you feel a little confidence with.
We've all sang Happy Birthday.
We've all sing certain songs.
And you know, that's a big part of this is you feeling comfortable singing it.
Your vocal range, your vocal skill, that's certainly going to play into this.
But I think you're going out there and just the confidence that you feel enjoying
the audition as well as important.
Yeah.
And I feel confident that the timeframe that that half hour if we get about eight kids
in that slot instead of like 60, we'll be able to maybe even have them redo it.
If they feel like it wasn't as good as they wanted to.
After we're done singing, we're going to do a little bit of reading.
Just acting part and no one's going to know what those words are ahead of time.
So don't have to come here.
But I think that's one of director's least favorite things is when you come with it
memorized or because you want to hear how they can handle jumping in and reading it cold.
So don't don't try to impress me.
Yes.
Trust me, everybody.
I've made that mistake in my early in my career a lot.
Yeah.
That's a great note.
And there's an audition for me at wrctheter.org that you can go ahead and fill out as well.
That will not only help you with this process, but I think give you a bit of an idea
if you're new to this of what to expect or maybe even what you might interest you.
Because one of the cool things I think about this along with what you said is breaking this up
in ages and timeframes is there's a section of for which roles would you like to audition?
And I love this.
I love this section.
I think it's very cool.
And there's the way it's broken down.
There are so many different options that there's something for everybody.
Somebody's going to click on a number of these if not, you know, at least one of them.
And I think in just reading them myself and I'm not auditioning, of course.
But I got a real idea.
I feel like, oh, this is this is something I want to do.
This is something that's exciting or I see something that maybe I didn't think of before.
It's a really cool idea when it comes to they also ask about your vocal range.
And then, of course, the audition part as far as like choosing the timeframes and stuff.
So just things to keep in mind.
And maybe one of the biggest things to keep in mind with all of this is your experience level
is here or there.
If you're a pro and you worked on Broadway, that's fantastic.
Come on down.
If you don't even know what Broadway is, come on down.
That's fine.
We're taking everybody.
Yeah.
And then and don't be intimidated if you don't want to speaking parts or if maybe this is your first
play and you're not ready for that, there is a ensemble.
So we'll we'll need extra singers and we'll need extra dancers.
And there's there's going to be something for everybody as long as a hundred kids don't show up.
That's going to be too many to fit into my onto my stage.
So that's pretty much the only reason why we would turn anybody away is if we get too many.
But then there's the other opportunities like the Brothers Grimm Spectacular on.
And another are all just use that to segue into the other show.
That's not on our website yet.
We'll be getting that information up there.
So very soon to be on the lookout for that is called Snow White and the Seven Endings.
And that is going to be directed by my wonderful friend Rose.
And she's it's going to be a play for ages eight to 18 as well.
And they'll be performing at lunch by the river.
And then we'll be trying to find a time slot to have them on the main stage as well.
Before the summer is over to get it showcased.
It's a it's a very funny show where the Seven Dwarves tell their own perspective of how it ended.
And the Prince doesn't save the day.
So oh my god, that sounds awesome.
Oh, that sounds fantastic.
That's going to be fun.
We'll be talking about that one.
And we're looking forward to seeing it at lunch by the river.
That's a great idea.
I love you guys being down there with that.
And you know, it's one of the ways that I think WRCT is a look to reach out to the community.
Be a part of things even more than they have been for the 50 years that they have been doing this.
I really appreciate those opportunities that you're putting to putting these kids,
these these actors, the theater in the position of while Gretchen and I love this stuff.
And we love talking about this.
And we love that theater very much when we're talking about youth productions.
And this goes back to a conversation you and I had a long time ago, the older you get,
the more you understand, I think this this art and what we're doing here.
And while you and I would not turn down a big movie deal or anything like that,
or you know, left or right and something that, especially when we were younger, might have shot for.
And we still, you know, have our eye on a little bit.
You get to realize more and more the more you do this that it's so much bigger than us.
And it means so much more than just anything we do or our individual, you know, feelings about this stuff.
When we're able to do something that helps out the youth, I talk about this a lot,
especially when I have high school kids in and we're talking about their place.
And I'm encouraging the audience, I'm encouraging people in this community to go support these plays.
It's no different than with sports.
The percentages go down whether from high school to college, from college to pros,
or the percentage of people who are going to do this for a living.
We don't know it any differently than some of these kids that are going to be in these shows.
If they're going to go on to be great entertainers or actors or anything like that.
And it doesn't matter what does is this confidence that they build,
they can take into whatever they do.
They're going to be a mechanic, they're going to be an actor, they're going to be a doctor,
whatever it is, they're going to have to do some public speaking probably.
They're going to have to be able to interact with people.
They're going to have to think on their feet, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera,
things that you and I learned on that theater stage.
This is what we're offering kids.
We're offering them a chance to build on themselves, to believe in themselves,
and us as a community to support that.
Yeah, I feel like I used plenty of my theater experience when I was a social worker.
Right? Yeah, I imagine.
I had to be confident in what I was doing, and I had to believe in myself,
and had to put on a happy face.
I say it all the time, there's literally no way I'm in this job if I'm not in a sixth grade play.
If I'm not in plays at East Jr. High, if I'm not doing that stuff,
and I got very fortunate radio found me and it took me in and everything.
There's so many of my fellow actors that I know right now that are out there grinding at things,
but the jobs that they're doing to make a living to keep the lights on
are all based on skill sets that they learn when they were young,
not when they're older, but when they were young.
These kids get an opportunity to do all of these things that we're talking about,
along with on top of that, the icing on the cake, maybe make a new friends,
getting out of the house, having some fun, enjoying themselves,
getting a chance to whether they've done eight shows, or this is their first show,
getting a brand new experience that a tablet or a screen cannot give them.
Yeah, and our city of Wisconsin Rapids has an amazing theater.
It just says like this wonderful community of community theater, school theater,
every different part of the whole city has these great opportunities for these kids,
and so they have way more than I ever had.
Yes.
And you see these eight-year-olds coming with mounds of experience and confidence
because they've been in school or at the dance recital place,
and they're such so much more vamp depth than it used to be.
You know, Gretchen, you just brought up something that made me think about something else.
These kids are going to get older, and I'm going to have to audition against them.
I take it all back. I take it all back. I don't want to know about that.
It's such a wonderful experience, and Gretchen and I are barely scratching the surface
of positives and wonderful reasons to get your kids involved in theater,
and there's so many great opportunities coming up this summer.
We encourage you to go to www.wrctheater.org, find out more,
fill out the audition sheet, and get your kids involved in local theater.
We're going to be talking about each one of these shows as we closer to audition dates,
let you know about those.
But we do have the audition dates for a day or two to dream.
We can tell everybody about it.
Actually, so May 5th at 4.30 to 8.
Sign up for our time slot, half hour, I think 4.30 is already full,
so don't come with that on my head.
But every other time slot has a bunch more space in it.
And then West Side Story is actually the very next day,
and on May 6th, 4.30 to 8.
And that one, you're just there the whole time,
and you're doing all the things we normally do.
And then audition dates for her brothers,
Kim Spectacular, thought on July 14th.
Sorry, July 14th, and I'm not sure on the time.
5 to 7.30, but my goodness.
All of that at the top of her head, everybody.
I got a cheat sheet in front of me.
You did all the top of your head.
That was fantastic.
And yes, and we'll be talking about these auditions more and more
as we get closer to them on our morning show,
and here on the rap report and everything.
This has been great, Gretchen.
Before I let you go, I did want to just touch on
and let the audience know, especially those that may not know out there.
While noise is off, it's wrapping up a wonderful 50th celebration year
and everything at WRCT, the show must go on.
And the 51st season is all around the corner.
Got the main stage shows all set up.
Oh man, it's been a year, and I cannot believe how fast this
went, but yes, we now have our shows picked.
And they'll be available for purchase starting in June.
June 1st, I think, is our cell date.
We're doing on Golden Pond in the fall.
Christmas story for the Christmas show.
And then we're doing a show called Four Old Brawds in the Late Winter.
And then in the spring, we're doing Father the Bride.
And that's the 1940s version, not the 1991 Steve Martin, Martin Short one,
which I love that film.
Oh, yeah, I love that film.
But, yeah, this is the vintage one.
This is a wonderful selection of plays.
Classics, each one of them have their beautiful moments to them
and their funny moments to them.
They're a great, a collective list of that.
And at the same time, it feels like a real tip of the hat
to the people who have been supporting WRCT for 50 plus years.
You know, it's a really nice balance there.
It's well done by the police election committee, you, everybody.
They put a lot, well, I'm on it, but they put a lot of work into that.
I don't make the decisions, but it's going to be a fun year.
So everything we are saying about the kids,
the same thing for you adults out there.
No, who out there is sitting there?
You know what? I got plenty of confidence.
You know what? I'm good.
No, no, you could use a little bit more.
You could certainly use a little more, not only confidence, but fun in your life.
I mean, if you want to be the cranky dad from Christmas story, come on out.
Come on, come on.
That's a dream role, people.
That's a dream.
Now that you said that I've completely forgot about that part
and I know there's another audition I wanted to know.
It's a great part.
There's so many great parts in each one of these shows.
We encourage you to come on down, be a part of things.
Whether you want to be on stage or behind the scenes, there is room for you.
I will also encourage people that they're looking for directors always as well.
You can apply for that online and just keep in mind one more thing
that if you come down for a show and you're a part of a show,
you will be back.
There is no one show.
These are potato chips, everybody.
You're going to keep coming down and you're going to be a part of things at WRCT
as much as Gretchen IR.
Gretchen, one more time with everything we talked about today,
there might be people out there who follow questions, one of them more.
Can we give them your information one more time?
Yeah, my phone number is 715-421-0435.
And my email address is cdwrct at slarris.net
or you could just shoot me a message on Facebook.
And Gretchen will be back again real soon to talk about the main stage shows
and some other things with us.
We're looking forward to that.
Find out more and get your tickets at www.wrctheater.org
www.wrctheater.org by local support, local support the arts, everybody.
Get to www.wrctheater.org.
We'll be back with more rapid support right here at WFHR, locally grown radio.
