Wagon Wheel Theatre Offers Educational Programs For All
October 27, 2020 at 3:14 a.m.
Wagon Wheel Theatre Offers Educational Programs For All
By David [email protected]
Educational programs at the Wagon Wheel Theatre began with a man who now is known as a writer and producer for television series like “Extant,” “Reverie” and “Mars.”
That same guy – Mickey Fisher – is sponsoring Wagon Wheel Jr.’s “Ha-Ha House” Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Wagon Wheel Artistic Director Scott Michaels said, “They began in the early 2000s, and we were doing summer stock because that’s all we were at the time. Aside from a Christmas show, we weren’t year-round. And Mickey really wanted to do something in the summers geared toward kids, and so he started up these programs geared around doing workshops and summer programs within all the other mess going around during our summer season.”
Finding time and space was a challenge, but many of the other actors volunteered to help.
In 2008, when the Wagon Wheel decided to go full-time and become a nonprofit, Michaels said they had to figure out what to do during the off-season. Professional production shows weren’t possible because the clientele aren’t around. After pondering what to do with all the downtime, Michaels suggested they needed to immediately come up with some stuff for kids.
As soon as the Christmas show closed, planning for the very first Wagon Wheel Jr. show began.
“We had a lot of interest, a lot of interested kids. More so than I thought we would have. I think there were 75 kids that auditioned for that first Jr. show that we did,” Michaels said, noting that they knew it would be a successful program going forward.
Dance classes were implemented on the weekends. During the week, Eisenhower Elementary bussed students over to Wagon Wheel for after-school classes.
Since then, there’s been two to three Jr. shows a year. Summer workshops have continued to grow, with high school students putting on a full musical. During the summer season, there’s workshops for kids in second grade through high school.
“We were so excited this summer because we just purchased 2517 and we thought that for the very first time in our lives, we were actually going to have space for kids to have their workshops and rehearse,” Michaels said. They wouldn’t have to use the lobby, parking lot or whatever space was available. “They actually had a dedicated space that we could actually have the classes.”
That would in turn open up the space for the professional company because there were times when there was no space to split rehearsals.
“We were really, really excited about having this educational facility. Kira (Hawkins) was going to be coming on board as our full-time educational director, and we had all these plans of all these new outreach programs. We were going to go to the high schools, the middle schools, getting us into the schools finally, having Kira go over there and talk to the acting kids. Maybe do some workshops at the actual schools. All of these amazing ideas that we had in place, and then, of course, COVID hit and changed everything,” Michaels said.
He said that made the year disheartening because the Wagon Wheel thought it was finally at a point where the programs were going to grow and needed to grow.
“What people don’t realize or understand is that everything that we do here is an education program,” Michaels said. “The Christmas shows. The summer professional season. Everything is geared toward education. Whether we’re doing ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ which we had in another season, which is a literary work, or we’ve done ‘Little Women’ or ‘Ragtime,’ ‘Hairspray,’ they all have their educational value to them and I think people forget that just because it’s not a kids’ show or not a kid program, that it’s not educational. We really want to get out the word that everything we do here is educational.”
He said despite the setback, he is really proud of what the future is looking like for the educational programs in the community.
“We’ve always had a strong community bond with our kids. We always have about 100 kids audition or getting into our programs,” he said.
There were six summer workshops with kids and every one was full, and it didn’t take long to fill them. Michaels said there’s always a need and want for educational programming in the community and Wagon Wheel is looking forward to expanding that.
“We still plan on doing our Christmas show. We’re doing a Jr. show right now,” he said, though the Jr. show is limited to 10 kids because of social distancing, instead of the 35 kids that might normally be in a show.
Michaels said they’re still planning to do their kids workshop/Jr. show in February, like always. Acting classes will continue with Hawkins on the weekends. Hawkins does all grade levels on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., with Michaels offering dance classes afterward.
“Everything is laid out and planned to do those educational programs on the weekend. And barring any unforeseen circumstances, we wil be attempting to do those,” he said.
As a full-time educational facility, Michaels said it’s not just the kids programs. “It’s the adult, it’s the professional programs, it’s the community theater, it’s the concerts we bring in. Everything has its educational value to it, and it’s entertainment, too. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still entertainment, but we’re hoping to broaden people’s educational scopes and introduce new styles of theater, history lessons and classic books that we can bring to the stage. All those things that can continue to educate,” he said.
To keep the Wagon Wheel children’s programs going, it needs funding.
“Without this building, without our staff, without the facility running at full capacity – meaning having our technical directors, having all those people – we can’t do our classes. So we need the funding, the finances. We keep the fees as low as possible. They’re minimal,” Michaels said. “The whole point is to make it accessible to anybody. It’s more of a fee to hold your spot.”
The Wagon Wheel believes anybody and everybody should be able to take the classes regardless of their circumstances, but those classes don’t fund themselves.
“So we need help from the community for educational funding for those programs, for the Jr. shows, for the kids workshops on the weekends. And operational costs,” he said. While some people may not want to give toward the operational costs, “the operational costs are what makes the programs go,” he said. “Without that funding, we don’t have the staff or the facility or spaces to actually run those programs. And right now, we’re tight financially. The cash flow is just low, so we need all the help we can get to do a Jr. show again. Or so we can do these classes on the weekend.”
Kids will come from as far as Fort Wayne, South Bend and Valparaiso for the programs because they know they’ll get a quality education, he said. They also have a blast.
The programs help kids be creative, do problem solving and public speaking and feel comfortable in large groups.
“They’re learning all of that through theater, and I think that’s something people forget, that public speaking is such a big part of what we do no matter what we go into,” Michaels said.
Educational programs at the Wagon Wheel Theatre began with a man who now is known as a writer and producer for television series like “Extant,” “Reverie” and “Mars.”
That same guy – Mickey Fisher – is sponsoring Wagon Wheel Jr.’s “Ha-Ha House” Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Wagon Wheel Artistic Director Scott Michaels said, “They began in the early 2000s, and we were doing summer stock because that’s all we were at the time. Aside from a Christmas show, we weren’t year-round. And Mickey really wanted to do something in the summers geared toward kids, and so he started up these programs geared around doing workshops and summer programs within all the other mess going around during our summer season.”
Finding time and space was a challenge, but many of the other actors volunteered to help.
In 2008, when the Wagon Wheel decided to go full-time and become a nonprofit, Michaels said they had to figure out what to do during the off-season. Professional production shows weren’t possible because the clientele aren’t around. After pondering what to do with all the downtime, Michaels suggested they needed to immediately come up with some stuff for kids.
As soon as the Christmas show closed, planning for the very first Wagon Wheel Jr. show began.
“We had a lot of interest, a lot of interested kids. More so than I thought we would have. I think there were 75 kids that auditioned for that first Jr. show that we did,” Michaels said, noting that they knew it would be a successful program going forward.
Dance classes were implemented on the weekends. During the week, Eisenhower Elementary bussed students over to Wagon Wheel for after-school classes.
Since then, there’s been two to three Jr. shows a year. Summer workshops have continued to grow, with high school students putting on a full musical. During the summer season, there’s workshops for kids in second grade through high school.
“We were so excited this summer because we just purchased 2517 and we thought that for the very first time in our lives, we were actually going to have space for kids to have their workshops and rehearse,” Michaels said. They wouldn’t have to use the lobby, parking lot or whatever space was available. “They actually had a dedicated space that we could actually have the classes.”
That would in turn open up the space for the professional company because there were times when there was no space to split rehearsals.
“We were really, really excited about having this educational facility. Kira (Hawkins) was going to be coming on board as our full-time educational director, and we had all these plans of all these new outreach programs. We were going to go to the high schools, the middle schools, getting us into the schools finally, having Kira go over there and talk to the acting kids. Maybe do some workshops at the actual schools. All of these amazing ideas that we had in place, and then, of course, COVID hit and changed everything,” Michaels said.
He said that made the year disheartening because the Wagon Wheel thought it was finally at a point where the programs were going to grow and needed to grow.
“What people don’t realize or understand is that everything that we do here is an education program,” Michaels said. “The Christmas shows. The summer professional season. Everything is geared toward education. Whether we’re doing ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ which we had in another season, which is a literary work, or we’ve done ‘Little Women’ or ‘Ragtime,’ ‘Hairspray,’ they all have their educational value to them and I think people forget that just because it’s not a kids’ show or not a kid program, that it’s not educational. We really want to get out the word that everything we do here is educational.”
He said despite the setback, he is really proud of what the future is looking like for the educational programs in the community.
“We’ve always had a strong community bond with our kids. We always have about 100 kids audition or getting into our programs,” he said.
There were six summer workshops with kids and every one was full, and it didn’t take long to fill them. Michaels said there’s always a need and want for educational programming in the community and Wagon Wheel is looking forward to expanding that.
“We still plan on doing our Christmas show. We’re doing a Jr. show right now,” he said, though the Jr. show is limited to 10 kids because of social distancing, instead of the 35 kids that might normally be in a show.
Michaels said they’re still planning to do their kids workshop/Jr. show in February, like always. Acting classes will continue with Hawkins on the weekends. Hawkins does all grade levels on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., with Michaels offering dance classes afterward.
“Everything is laid out and planned to do those educational programs on the weekend. And barring any unforeseen circumstances, we wil be attempting to do those,” he said.
As a full-time educational facility, Michaels said it’s not just the kids programs. “It’s the adult, it’s the professional programs, it’s the community theater, it’s the concerts we bring in. Everything has its educational value to it, and it’s entertainment, too. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still entertainment, but we’re hoping to broaden people’s educational scopes and introduce new styles of theater, history lessons and classic books that we can bring to the stage. All those things that can continue to educate,” he said.
To keep the Wagon Wheel children’s programs going, it needs funding.
“Without this building, without our staff, without the facility running at full capacity – meaning having our technical directors, having all those people – we can’t do our classes. So we need the funding, the finances. We keep the fees as low as possible. They’re minimal,” Michaels said. “The whole point is to make it accessible to anybody. It’s more of a fee to hold your spot.”
The Wagon Wheel believes anybody and everybody should be able to take the classes regardless of their circumstances, but those classes don’t fund themselves.
“So we need help from the community for educational funding for those programs, for the Jr. shows, for the kids workshops on the weekends. And operational costs,” he said. While some people may not want to give toward the operational costs, “the operational costs are what makes the programs go,” he said. “Without that funding, we don’t have the staff or the facility or spaces to actually run those programs. And right now, we’re tight financially. The cash flow is just low, so we need all the help we can get to do a Jr. show again. Or so we can do these classes on the weekend.”
Kids will come from as far as Fort Wayne, South Bend and Valparaiso for the programs because they know they’ll get a quality education, he said. They also have a blast.
The programs help kids be creative, do problem solving and public speaking and feel comfortable in large groups.
“They’re learning all of that through theater, and I think that’s something people forget, that public speaking is such a big part of what we do no matter what we go into,” Michaels said.
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