FAYETTEVILLE — Performers like being talked to while on stage, as long as it’s done the correct way, Patricia Relph told participants of the Walton Arts Center Family First Nights program Saturday.
“Make sure you talk to the actors with your applause, with your laughter,” said Relph, the center’s arts learning specialist.
Relph gave a brief overview of how the theater works before a matinee performance of Mary Poppins for families participating in Operation Renewal, a program dedicated to strengthening families of National Guardsman and Reservists.
Friends Mackenzie Hackett, 4, and Emily Hernandez, 5, followed Relph as she described theater scenes depicted in a mural by artist Ken Stout. Relph said the mural, which was painted 20 years ago, tells the story of the theater from the lobby to the back stage.
Relph was assisted by head carpenter Alex Newbie and assistant carpenter and electrician Jonathan Meyer. Newbie and Meyer spoke about helping put on a traveling Broadway production, the sets for which travel on nine tractor-trailers.
Family First Nights is a national program by the New York-based Broadway League, the national trade association of the Broadway theater industry. A league spokesman said the group provided scholarships ranging from $2,000 to $4,000 in 17 cities outside New York.
The scholarships allow people who might never see a Broadway show to attend a production. The Walton Arts Center received $4,000, which will cover most of the cost of the tickets, said Beth Goodwin, arts center spokesman.
Instead of paying $75 per ticket, families paid $5 per ticket, Goodwin said. The program also includes workshops before and after the performance and allows the families a chance to meet some of the actors, she said.
“It’s a great way to encourage people that might not otherwise get to see a Broadway show to come to the theater and experience the arts,” Goodwin said.
The center was expecting seven families with Operation Renewal and two from the Single Parent Scholarship Fund of Northwest Arkansas, which helps pay expenses for qualifying applicants who are pursuing higher education opportunities.
Operation Renewal founder Ron Dilbert said he was excited by the prospect of providing families access to Broadway performances because he saw how important it was to his own son.
Dilbert, who is originally from New York, said he still fondly remembers taking his son to see Cats on Broadway. He said that during intermission, audience members were invited on stage to view the scenery and “pet” one of the cats. The excitement of that experience lasted for weeks, Dilbert said.
But there are many people in the military that haven’t seen a Broadway show, much less taken their family, Dilbert said. Operation Renewal is focused on strengthening families of Guardsmen and Reservists by helping them build a support group and giving them opportunities to experience life outside their daily challenges, he said.
“We get so involved in our everyday routines you kind of forget you’re a family,” he said. “So to get families together who are going through deployments or having been through deployments, to get them together is really exciting for us.”
For families participating in the Single Parent Scholarship program, the shows help reinforce the parent’s goal of building a better life, said Jody Dilday, executive director of the local affiliate, which serves Carroll, Madison and Washington counties.
“When you’re living on one income, if any, while you’re going to college, which is quite expensive, there’s just not a lot of money left for nice things,” Dilday said.
Stacey and Thomas Hackett, Mackenzie’s grandparents, were among the Operation Renewal Families who arrived early enough to attend the preshow talk and were pleased to be able to bring Mackenzie and Emily to their first Broadway performance.
Thomas Hackett said Mackenzie’s father is currently on active duty in an undisclosed area of Afghanistan. Hackett said he’s been deployed many times in his 30 years in the military and works with other soldiers to help them transition between deployments and civilian life.
Stacey Hackett said she didn’t have the kind of support group when Thomas Hackett was fighting in Desert Storm, though she would have embraced it.
Hackett said military families can be a great resource for one another, which is why this type of program is so beneficial.
“Whether they’re deployed or not, it’s important to spend time together,” Hackett said.
Arkansas, Pages 13 on 04/22/2012