Summer stock theater is all about the unusual things that can happen on stage when actors are encouraged to let down their hair and relax a little.
The tradition is built on performing outside of the rigorous expectations of actor and audience, which magically become more exacting when the air turns cooler.
At the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, the summer stock program is tailored to select and nurture a pool of emerging singers, dancers and actors. Begun last year, it casts high-school and college-age performers in productions that are training grounds for students serious about a working future in the arts.
“We’ve grown the program since last summer,” said Brian Kimmel, director of the upcoming production of “West Side Story.”
“This whole north end is ripe with top-notch performing arts high schools. In summer, we can spread out and take our time with more things. That’s not always possible during the school year. Here, the kids aren’t in rehearsal after a long day of school or coming to us after their part-time job. They’re energized and fresh and ready to go.”
Kimmel is encouraging the young cast, whose average age is 16, to focus on the Shakespearean core of the play. Teaching them un-politically correct lessons about street violence and prejudice, he said, has been a bit of a creative challenge.
“A lot of these kids have been indoctrinated with tolerance, and they don’t necessarily understand resorting to violence. I’m a child of the ’80s. We didn’t talk about this stuff as much then. Now, it seems the walls are down, so it’s difficult to convince them they need to hate their brother in a minute. But in a 90-minute program, I get them from accepting everyone to something pretty toxic.”
Maria will be played by Jo-Jo Steine, a 16-year-old rising junior from Pope High School in east Cobb. Steine has the advantage of being roughly the same age as Maria, and when she auditioned, Kimmel said it was easy to see she would be the female lead.
“I tried to convince them that I was right for Maria by what I wore and what song I chose,” Steine said. "I was drawn to that role specifically and to the opportunity at the JCC to perform in front of a bigger audience in a professional theater.”
Preview
“West Side Story.” 8 p.m. July 27-28 and Aug. 3-4. 2 p.m. July 31 and Aug. 7. Center Theatre, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody. $12-$20. 678-812-4002, www.atlantajcc.org.
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