The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Getting in Character: Two-year-old Zoe Madden patiently sits still as teacher Melinda Miller transforms her into a dog before a Primary Players class. Zoe, who joined the group for just a day, has a 5-year-old brother |who is a member of the program.

New theater group teaches preschoolers to 'break a leg'

By Maggie Benson

Darsie Marie squats on the wooden dance floor at an American Musical Theatre rehearsal space to get eye-level with 4-year-old Patrick. "How would a mouse move?" she asks, her round eyes smiling.

Patrick responds by scrunching himself into a ball and waddling across the floor. "I'm going to get some cheese," he squeaks, looking up at Marie, now standing above him.

"Good!" she responds, clapping. Patrick grins at his job well done. He's one of the seven 3- to 5-year-olds in today's Primary Players class, a newly developed course for preschool-aged kids that aims to teach communication skills through theater arts. It's the only class of its kind in the area. Marie, a Willow Glen resident, started the program six weeks ago with Melinda Miller. So far, Marie says, it's been a success.

"We put it together, and it just seemed to fly," she explains. "We've been getting 12, sometimes 15 calls a day."

Marie worked for more than 15 years in theater and film in Los Angeles, including a stint as a production coordinator for Law & Order. After quitting the business, she settled in the Bay Area in order to pursue a career in early childhood care. Miller, a professional dancer and choreographer, also taught dance at several preschools. Given the teachers' backgrounds in both child development and acting, Marie said, the idea to create a theater class for young children came naturally.

"I thought, what I'd love to do is incorporate the two," she recalls.

Marie called schools, the Children's Musical Theater and American Musical Theatre of San Jose and found none provided theater classes for preschool-aged children. They had found a niche.

Armed with $1,100 in seed money from supportive parents for whom she had nannied, Marie and Miller began the class, renting a space at the American Musical Theatre office.

Today, several mothers and one grandmother fill the seats that border the rehearsal space, watching their children dance, twirl and giggle. On the walls, colorful hand-drawn signs mark the different areas of the "studio": Makeup, Costume and Set Design.

A ballet barre serves as a costume rack--just the right size for little hands to reach, which they do often--pulling down sequin-lined purple and yellow organza skirts, pink lacy dresses, railroad conductors' overalls and cowboy vests.

Nearby, a seamstress' dummy strikes a pose in a Cinderella-style blue dress. Several strands of faux pearls and two fuchsia scarves fall dramatically around its waist and base.

"Steven is our designer," Marie says with a wide-mouthed grin. The 3-year-old dressed the life-sized doll last session, she explains, carefully placing the scarves and jewels.

At the end of the 12-week, $280 session, the children will perform an abbreviated version of Cinderella, from the mice's point of view. The students will be in total control of the production, Marie explains, from the costumes to the sets to the lights.

Norma Moreno, Patrick's mom, is one of the parents sitting on the sidelines. She says Primary Players allows her son to explore his creativity.

"It's just really one of the few places I've found that's a real creative outlet for him," she explains, talking over the music from Cinderella that blares in the background. "For this age group, it's difficult to find a place for them to do that."

Norma stops for a moment to draw in a breath and Patrick steals the opportunity to reclaim her attention. "Mom, can you paint a kitty cat on my face?" he asks, handing her a makeup stick.

At this point, Eileen Barnes joins the conversation. Her grandson is the only child in the class not in costume. Barnes explains that he's shy, one of the reasons she wants him in the class.

"It gives them self-confidence," she comments after urging Kenneth to join the group in an impromptu dance. "One of the biggest fears people seem to have is speaking in front of people. This gives them an introduction to that. It's a life skill they'll come across, across the board, whether they go into teaching or business--they have to be able to communicate."

At this point 2-year-old Zoe (a stowaway for the day--she's too young to be an actual member of the class) inadvertently interrupts the conversation as she runs to the mirror, a floor-length skirt following behind, screeching gleefully, "I doggy! I doggy!" There is a moment of confusion as the parents struggle to understand her newly developed words--until she turns around displaying a face freshly painted with whiskers and a little black nose.

After the outburst, Zoe's mother, Patricia Madden (with another baby in tow), offers, "Sometimes they get more inhibited the older they get, which is why it's nice to start them at this young age."

Enthusiastic outbursts like Zoe's are just the reason for Primary Players, according to Marie.

"It isn't about making stars, it's about showing them another way to say something or do something," she explains.

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