Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer
Mark Witzke, 10, and Megan Johnson, 10, students at Ponderosa School, sing 'The Preamble' at the school's performance of 'School House Rock Live! Jr.'
Students get a start with the arts
Thespians perform 'Schoolhouse Rock'
By Jana Seshadri
A talented cast of 25 Ponderosa Elementary School kids rocked the Peterson Middle School auditorium with their spring production of Schoolhouse Rock Live! May 9 and 10. The Starting Arts program production comprised young performers from grades 3-5 who have attended 12 weeks of after-school classes in acting, voice and dance.
"It was great, and the kids had a lot of fun," said Producer Ann Watts, arts coordinator for the Santa Clara Unified School District and executive director of Starting Arts, Inc.
Based on the Emmy Award-winning Saturday morning cartoon series, which aired in the 1970s, the musical focuses on Tom, a nervous and highly stressed schoolteacher. While watching television, different facets of his own personality pop out of the set and show Tom how to engage his students with music.
"I'm usually nervous before the show," said fourth-grader Mark Witzke, who played the part of Tom. "But once the show starts, I'm fine."
Witzke and the rest of the cast, dressed in colorful costumes modeled after school uniforms, delivered their lines with ease and confidence. Fifth-grader Jenny Ball, who played Georgette, said the group rehearsed the show for four months.
The 25 students who signed up and attended the after-school musical theater classes--conducted by the Starting Arts program at Ponderosa--had the opportunity to perform in the show. With instantly recognizable songs like "A Noun is a Person, Place or Thing," "Three is a Magic Number" and "Conjunction Junction," the performers kept the audience entertained--adults and children alike. The stage was appropriately decorated as a classroom.
"This show was rewritten for younger performers," said Michael Boston, director of the show and an artist in residence for the Starting Arts program.
Boston, who has been a full-time drama teacher for more than 10 years, is responsible for the theater program at San Jose's Cory Elementary, a kindergarten, first- and second-grade academic, visual and performing arts magnet school. Boston has been a performing arts director and drama instructor for the Montalvo performing arts camp for eight years. Having also directed plays and musicals for the Sunnyvale Community Theater, Boston has altogether directed more than 60 dramatic productions with elementary, middle and high school and community theater groups.
The Starting Arts program is an independent, privately funded educational enhancement program connected to the Santa Clara Unified School District. Focusing on four fundamental arts disciplines--dance, music, theater and visual arts--the program gives students in the school district an opportunity to study the arts under an accomplished and certified instructor, according to Watts. The program trains students as performing artists, who eventually perform or exhibit their talents and skills to an audience.
An anonymous donation last year enabled Ponderosa to participate as a pilot school in the Starting Arts pilot program, Watts said.
The program has become so successful that it has grown beyond Ponderosa, which Watts says is also a matter of concern for her. She fears quick success and growth might jeopardize the quality of the program.
"After our success in last year's show, I organized a much broader program this time," said Watts, who was a teacher and a dancer herself. "It's wonderful for these kids to be involved in this program."
Diana Torres-Koss, currently the musical director for Schoolhouse Rock Live! at Ponderosa, performs with many Bay Area theater companies, including American Musical Theatre of San Jose. A piano player and singer, Torres-Koss teaches music two times a week at Ponderosa's after-school program.
The choreographer, Dottie Lester-White, also teaches dance two days a week. She said she enjoys the program and hopes that it will continue. Lester-White has choreographed, performed and assisted with stage management for many theater productions in San Jose, as well as several Broadway shows. She was the director and owner of the Dance Studio of Mountain View for 10 years.
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
