The Tellico Community Players will soon begin enlisting for this year’s Readers Theater group the Prime Time Players to tour elementary schools in Loudon County.
Sign-ups and auditions begin 10 a.m. Feb. 9 at the Tellico Community Playhouse. Rehearsals will follow 10 a.m.-noon Feb. 12, 13 and 15.
“What we’re going to do is we’ll have a little presentation ourselves to show how it works, how Readers Theater works, and, of course, they’ll be awed by us and they’ll love us and they’ll think it’s a great thing and say, ‘Oh, I can do that’,” Debbie Mayberry, Tellico Village Community Players Readers Theater director, said, laughing. “I think they’ll see that it is pretty natural and then rehearsal is when we fine tune it and we really make them (ready).”
This year’s theme will be “Once Upon a Mountain,” which features dramatic literature and music artists from the Appalachian Mountains, including “The Big Toe,” “Possum Comes A-Knockin’,” “Contrary Jenkins” and a couple poems Mayberry believes will get students’ “toes tapping.”
“So we went to the Tennessee Museum in Knoxville and did some research and found all kinds of stories,” Mayberry said. “So we read, read, read, and then it involves going to the libraries and getting books and seeing if they’re suitable for what we do. Then we wrote the script and stories and adapted them to our style, our presentation and then wrote the narration.”
Readers Theater has been a mainstay in elementary schools for the Tellico Village Community Players since 2010. The theme changes each year, which Mayberry said can be both challenging and fun. Last year’s “Waldo the World Traveler” reached 4,500 students.
What has made the effort so successful over the years is the ease in which people can participate. No acting experience is required, but Mayberry said some have used Readers Theater as a means to get their foot in the door for theater.
Memorization of a script is not required for Readers Theater, which Community Players representatives believe is a draw for some.
“I would say it has to do I think in part at least the children we do this for are very unfamiliar with live theater and the pleasures it can bring,” Doug Banister, Tellico Community Players school tour producer, said. “So it’s a unique experience for just about every one of them. They just relate to that. It’s a different form of television, so to speak.”
“On the flip side of it, it’s kind of amazing to watch it,” Mayberry added. “I’ve sat back and watched them perform, and it’s a response. I think I’ve said this before, it’s kind of a love-fest, because you can see the enjoyment and the thrill in our performers and when the kids — their eyes light up and they catch on to a tune or a rhythm or whatever we’re playing on that particular piece, it’s exciting to watch. ... It’s a heartwarming experience. It’s a great thing, and it gives you appreciation for — in this community we’re hungry for those cute, little faces and those big smiles.”
As many as possible are welcome to join because “we’re only limited by our microphone ability” in gymnasiums or library for performance, Mayberry said.
Production is scheduled March 5-9 during school hours for elementary schools in Loudon County. Sweetwater may also be a possibility, Banister said.
“In the past we have done both Monroe and Loudon,” Mayberry said. “This year we’re focusing on Loudon and we’ve done that because we needed to rein it in a little bit. It had gotten bigger than we had.”
