At a historic New Orleans theater, directors are brainstorming ways to connect young people with the age-old tradition of drama.
While Le Petit Theatre has been around since 1916, its workshop development program was established only seven years ago to teach students about the technical aspects of the industry. For the upcoming spring season, the theatre will host a series of workshops geared toward classes that cover several topics of the entertainment industry, such as costume design and stage management.
Don-Scott Cooper, Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré’s producing executive director, used his own experience to shape the educational program. When he arrived in New Orleans in 2017, fresh off a stint as general manager of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, he saw a gap in technical training for young New Orleanians.
From left, Isaac Milton, Rowan Hiramatsu and Marjorie Harville work in a scenic painting tech class at Le Petit.
While he discovered plenty of theater camps for people who wanted to perform, he felt like there wasn’t anything for people like him who were still interested in theater but wanted to be behind the scenes.
“I didn’t want to be an actor. I was very shy,” Cooper said. “I didn’t want to be on stage. So, it was like coming up with that sort of way to participate for the kid who doesn’t want to be in the spotlight, plus also training people to work in the industry.”
Breaking down barriers
Cooper hopes that the program, which began in 2018, will break down barriers to accessing the dramatic arts world and encourage more arts-based careers.
“Hopefully it makes theater a more central part of the conversation, and it allows more people to realize that theater is something that is for them,” Cooper said.
Members of the tech theater intensive program at Le Petit, front row from left, are Suzie Klemmer, Kaci Thomassie, Blaise Bairnsfather, Fern Niven, Noah Kornman, Woody Bealer, Kaelyn Bailey and Duncan Becker. Back row from left: Lamaari Ausama, Byron Turner, Braxton Dembowski, Durran Walker, Kaya Porto, Matthew Sepanik, Delilah McDuff, Sophie Uhlig-Marhsall, Charlotte Gunn, Charlee Palma, Zoila Linares, Ethan Franz and Zipporah Conner.
Throughout the years, students have learned how to paint scenery, work on their sewing skills, utilize lighting effects and hone other skills that are transferable to entertainment industries such as television, music and more.
“Finding skilled carpenters, finding skilled electricians, finding people who have these sort of technical skills that are necessary to make art happen, whether it’s music, theater, dance, film, TV, it all translates,” Cooper said.
The theater’s technical workshops in the spring will focus on teaching basic sewing machine skills and stage management. While each session comes with a price tag, Cooper said no interested student will be turned away, and there are scholarships available.
Le Petit Theatre also offers complimentary tickets to schools in the New Orleans area for its student matinees.
Small class sizes and hands-on instruction
A.J. Allegra, artistic director for the theater, talked about the benefits of training students to express themselves creatively through technical crafts. Allegra, who has a long history of theater education, moved to New Orleans to help kick-start the ensemble theater group, The NOLA Project.
From left, Kaci Thomassie, Durran Walker and Charles Andrews in a class at Le Petit Theatre’s tech intensive
“We wanted to produce theater that we felt was impactful in a place that we felt like had too little of that type of theater,” Allegra said of his original move to New Orleans.
Now, he’s looking to spark more interest in a younger demographic. Allegra says the small class sizes at Le Petit Theatre — the sewing workshop is capped at eight students — are needed to provide hands-on instruction.
“We definitely are focused on the individual student, as opposed to trying to reach a mass quantity of students at one time,” Allegra said. “You can’t give quality instructions to a massive amount of people at one time. You kind of need to be one-on-one over the students, showing them, observing what they’re doing and then guiding them.”
Training a new generation
Designer and costumer Kathleen Van Horn, a member of the Le Petit Theatre Council, stressed the importance of skills like sewing.
Duncan Becker, at left, and James Andrews work together at Le Petit Theatre’s workforce development program.
”It’s vital to really train the new, next generation of artists, backstage artists, designers, all that,” Van Horn said.
She noted that she became interested in sewing at the age of five and started officially taking lessons in the craft at 8 years old, which sparked a lifelong love of the profession.
While she didn’t begin a full-time career as a seamstress until she opened her studio in 2011, Van Horn had gained experience making costumes in college and kept going, making costumes for school plays and local organizations.
Van Horn said introducing people to this technical side of theater at an early age helps to inform career choices, as well as teaches the value of collaboration.
“Every role is important,” she said.
Allegra stressed one other benefit to learning the ropes of theater: personal connection.
“I hope that theater continues to be a force for creativity and imagination in kids’ lives,” Allegra said. “So much of kids’ lives are dominated by electronic communications, apps and artificial intelligence. I hope that theater can remain a real connection to the tangible world and the tangible arts.”