By Julianne Homokay
Special to the Alpine Mountaineer
We all look forward to the holidays for the comfort that taking part in our time-worn traditions provides. Those traditions may include a family outing to a performance; that on the mountain would mean Lake Arrowhead Classical Ballet Company’s The Nutcracker or Heisler Theater’s A Christmas Carol.
Rim Youth Theatre, helmed by Tracey Ellert and Kelly Vento, is striving to add a new tradition to the mountain mix. ’Twas the Night! opens on Dec. 14 at the Jensen Chapel at Thousand Pines Christian Camp and Conference Center.
“Last year I wrote an original Nutcracker,” says Ellert, which was their production of Nutcracker Before Christmas. “There’s only one in town,” referring to LACBC’s ballet version, “and some kids don’t want to dance. But they want to be in a Nutcracker because it’s so iconic.”
Tracey Ellert working with youth actors in Annie Jr., a recent Rim Youth Theatre production. (Photo by Julianne Homokay)
Vento said, “Tracey and I knew last year was a starting place.” So, “this year I re-wrote, tweaked the story and added some more characters,” said Ellert. This season’s incarnation became a mash-up of several traditional Christmas stories, including The Nutcracker, the Grinch and A Visit From St. Nicholas, the iconic poem by Clement Clarke Moore that begins “’Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house…” In fact, Ellert’s wildly creative and whimsical story emerges from a copy of the poem that the main characters obtained from a fortune teller who warns “Be careful!” Of course, the children read the poem before they’re supposed to, and the book comes to life before their eyes.
Both Ellert and Vento stressed that the main factor contributing to the singularity of their production is that the performers are all local youth, ages 3 to 15, from Valley of Enchantment Elementary School, Lake Arrowhead Elementary School, Mary Putnam Henck Intermediate School and home-school programs.
In terms of their process, Vento rehearses the dancers on her own while Ellert takes the actors through a character development process. In all, they have a cast of 52 local youth.
Ellert starts her actors with improvisational games to build cohesiveness in her ensemble. She moves on to character development exercises, and then focuses on performance tools like Voice and Diction and Stage Movement.
Vento is an experienced dance instructor who teaches class out of her eponymous dance company. The dancers in a Rim Youth Theatre production get professional dance lessons as she choreographs toward their strengths. In terms of the production, “I envision the part,” she said, “and I choose music from songs, classical pieces and soundtracks that suit the characters.” She enjoys splicing together medleys to provide the musical maps for her dancers, and has incorporated ballet, Broadway jazz, lyrical contemporary and acrobatics styles into this year’s production.
Director Tracey Ellert at work. (Photo by Julianne Homokay)
Ellert and Vento also stressed how difficult it would be to pull the show off without community support. “We are thankful to Thousand Pines for being so accommodating; they’ve been very generous,” said Ellert. “We’re thankful for the parents!” said Vento. “If we didn’t have the parents, it’s Tracey and me and Emalynn with 50 kids!”
Emalynn is Vento’s daughter, a physical therapy Ph.D. candidate and dancer/choreographer in her own right, who choreographed half the dances and helped Vento with music. Matt Murphey of “Wraith House” and Murphey Arts and Charitable Entertainment donated a Grinch costume. Ellert and Vento also relied on parent and “supermom volunteer” Ali Arriola for props and set, and Brittnie Elkjar for business and communications, in a true community show of support.
Moving forward, Ellert said she can accommodate this show each year to the kids who come out to be a part of it. “We wanted to have our own traditional holiday show here on the mountain.”
’Twas the Night! performs at the Jensen Chapel, Thousand Pines Christian Camp and Conference Center, on Dec. 14 at 5 p.m. and Dec. 15 at 4 p.m. Tickets, available at vendodancecompany.com, are $18; 4 and under on laps are free.
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