Blossoming local young actors These young actors attended a week long camp at the Magnolia Children’s Theater. They worked together on their costumes, and sets. In the end they gave a splendid performance of The Odd Odyssey of Odysseus, a play adapted for kids by Kirsten Morgan and Jennifer Fay. PHOTO BY SARA SANDSTROM[/caption]

After a week of theater camp the Magnolia Children’s Theater performed The Odd Odyssey of Odysseus on Saturday, August, 6, 2022. This adventure packed Greek tale was dramatically and beautifully performed by a group of our local youth.

The Magnolia Children’s Theater is a week of theater camp in the summer where kids ages 9 - 14 meet to play theater games, make costumes, build sets and learn their lines. Kids must come completely dedicated to the process and commit to memorizing their lines for at the end of the week they perform the chosen play at the Nederland Backdoor Theater in the community center.

The camp was formed in 2017 by Corrie and Yves Beauvineau in response to requests from parents who wanted children’s theater in the Nederland/ Boulder area. The Beauvineaus are both passionate about theater and education. Corrie is a teacher at Nederland Elementary School and Yves teaches French at Fairview High School.

Magnolia Children’s Theater Camp has a family affair for the Beauvineau family. Oldest daughter Maya will be a freshman at Dartmouth this year, son Mateo is a sophomore at Fairview High School and youngest daughter Sophia is a seventh grader at Nederland Middle Senior High School. All are involved. Maya helps with vocal coaching and production. Mateo assists with the production and lighting and Sophia is a participant in the camp.

Corrie Beauvineau says about the camp, “I think our favorite part is seeing how the magic of a story comes to life through this intense week of working together. We love the creativity, and the fun teamwork. It is the ultimate challenge to take a story and a blank stage and bring that story to life together in only one week. We also really love seeing how the actors develop so much confidence through the experience.”

She adds, “I really believe that drama is a powerful vehicle for children to express themselves and have fun while learning about complex themes in literature and human nature. Theater allows children to work through complex human emotions and even gives them permission to work through anger,violence and other hard human challenges.”

In past years this theater has produced Macbeth, Beowulf and Don Quixote. The Magnolia Children’s Theater believes that an early introduction to these works of literature through acting on stage will mean a life-long interest in classic literature. They also hope and encourage the messages that the literature teaches of loyalty, honor and courage will then be carried on through life.

In The Odd Odyssey of Odysseus the actors brought this story of loyalty and pride to life. There were Trojan warriors, Greek sailors, and fighting with swords (gently). Most importantly, everyone involved was having fun. They worked hard all week on their sets, costumes, organization, teamwork and lines. It all paid off.

Congratulations to the Magnolia Children’s Theater staff and participants. We look forward to the next kid- sized classic literature play on stage in Nederland next summer.

For more information on Magnolia Children’s Theater go to their website at www.magnoliact.com. Contact them at directors@magnoliact.com.