Teenage actors do it all in FDA’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ – Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
by Julie Stricker / jstricker@newsminer.com Fairbanks Daily News Miner
FAIRBANKS – You won’t see any animated candlesticks or talking teapots, but the Fairbanks Drama Association’s Teenage Theatre Ensemble production of “Beauty and the Beast” contains plenty of movement and magic.
Director Anna Gagne-Hawes said she has been teaching the Beast’s servants contact improvisation techniques, and the actors’ movements provide energy to the set.
“They’re sort of this sometimes creepy, sometimes beautiful magic of the castle,” she said. “They don’t have any lines, but their movement adds kind of a pop to the play.”
The production is the culmination of FDA’s three-week Drama Project Session, a professional theater training program for youth. It features actors between ages 12 and 18 who do everything from designing and building the set to creating costumes and lighting, Gagne-Hawes said.
“It’s all the kids’ ideas on stage,” she said.
The actors even constructed or found all the props.
“We create theater from scratch,” she said. “It’s a really, really intense three weeks.”
The castle set is a two-level design more than 7 feet high and features a winding staircase that they found in a shed behind the theater, according to assistant director Samantha Luther. She said the kids designed and painted the set; all she did was help put it together.
“It’s really been a student-run project,” Luther said.
Besides setting up for the play, the actors have been studying improvisation, speech, movement and physicality.
“They’ve all been so open to moving and learning,” said Gagne-Hawes, who said the whole cast was “awesome” — a word she used several times in describing the play.
The leads are Tori Niewohner as Beauty and Riley Clarke as Beast. Both actors are 17 and have performed in theater for several years, Gagne-Hawes said. The other members of the ensemble are Eric Fitts, Ryan Anderson, Missy Gilligan, Luke Williams, Abigail Craig, Bekka Hunter, Jake Roselius, Jessica Niewohner, Ashley Stark, Blayke Rifley, Ola Carnahan and Addie Clarke.
The play will be performed for the public at Riverfront Theatre this weekend only. “Beauty and the Beast” is not recommended for children under 6 due to length and subject matter.
Contact Julie Stricker at 459-7532.IF YOU GO
What: Fairbanks Drama Association’s Young Peoples’ Ensemble Production: Beauty and the Beast
When: 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday
Where: Riverfront Theatre
Tickets: $10
Information: http://www.fairbanksdrama.org/