Wax Museum: Educational and Entertaining
OCT's NextGen Takes a Field Trip to the Wax Museum
As OCT’s NextGen company prepares for their fall offering this season, Night At the Wax Museum by Craig Sodaro, both youth and adult volunteers are noticing something: The theatre and all its value, lessons, and magic doesn’t belong solely to the adults. In fact, the foundational benefits of youth theatre may be more key to the lives of youth participants than their adult counterparts.
At its core, theatre is a collaborative art. There is no other art form that brings so many aspects of art together: lighting, costuming, set design, sound design, acting, direction, and stage management all have to work together in harmony to make a unified and successful production. Each human at the helm of these individual branches has their own value, vision, and talent to offer to the process. With each unique contribution, the whole becomes greater than each part. When a young person is just finding their voice, talent, and exceptional contribution, having an outlet for its expression is so exciting and vital and helps build a future leader.
The leadership that is fostered and built in this collaborative process is one of teamwork, understanding, and empathy. From the building of characters and the planning of movement on stage to the anticipation of audience reaction, young theatre producers by necessity have to consider many things outside their own understanding of the world. Gaining new perspectives fosters the building of bridges and helps build community.
The play that the youth theatre chooses to do helps focus the message that is being sent out, both to the company and to its audience. The specific piece chosen for our NextGen company,
Night At the Wax Museum, has proven to have built-in lessons that are eye-opening and hold extensive value for participants and patrons alike. It’s a lesson in problem-solving and how the power of coming together is often the key to finding the answer. It’s a lesson in forgiveness and how listening is far more important than speaking. Finally, it's a lesson in history for education and for entertainment. From Cleopatra to Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, characters from all eras of history intermingle in hilarious ways.
It seems unlikely that one play can accomplish all of this. Skeptical? Come, see for yourself. The Wax Museum comes alive on the main stage at Old Courthouse Theatre from September 10-13. Tickets are available at
https://app.arts-people.com/?show=350510 or by calling the box office at 704.788.2405. It promises to be a performance that will educate, entertain, and help build what we’re all here for: community.
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