Monday, Jul. 14, 2008

YES Company eager to move to Gallo

After years of performing in school auditoriums, the Youth Entertainment Stage Company moves to the Gallo Center for the Arts this summer.

The popular group is staging a lavish production of "The Wizard of Oz" Aug. 8-16 in the Rogers Theater.

Director Melanee Wyatt spoke with The Bee last week about the show, the rehearsal process and the excitement of performing in a professional venue.

Here are excerpts from that conversation.

Q: What can we expect from "Wizard of Oz?"

A: You can expect wonderful things. You can expect beautiful children on the stage creating a magical story, you can expect flying monkeys, you can expect a witch that flies, you can expect seeing children from all over the county working together to produce something wonderful.

Q: How many people are in the cast this year?

A: We have over 100 and our crew as well. There's seven in the crew.

Q: How old are these kids?

A: The youngest is 8 years old and the oldest is 18. We have to have our precious little Munchkins.

Q: How do you select these kids?

A: In 1992, we started with just three schools and it has grown to encompass countywide. Students for YES Company in the summer is grades 7 through 12.However, there are exceptions to the rule for productions like "Wizard of Oz," where we do need some younger students. The younger students have participated in one of the strands of YES Company -- for example, YES Kids or YES Kidettes -- so they know the process, and I know that they'll be able to focus and concentrate and have a positive experience. The rest of the young people come to open auditions, which we provide throughout the county ... (and I) go to some schools for children who wouldn't normally be able to audition. They might not know about theater or their parents might not know. I want to make it available to everyone. This year, we had 350 children audition to be in the company and be in the crew and cast, and that's the hardest part of my job, having to pick a smaller amount. Our average cast is 70 to 80, so I did cast more than usual this year.

Q: Tell me about the rehearsal process.

A: We started rehearsals June 23. It's not a program about just putting on a play where we just learn music, dance, acting and that's it. Over the last few weeks, they've been learning the music, but they also learn about the basics of theater. We do team-building exercises. They get to know each other as well as having guest speakers.

Q: Do the kids rehearse five days a week?

A: In the beginning, yes. The first weeks, they are here from 9 to 5. Then we start having different schedules when we start staging and blocking the show so not all of them have to come at once.

Q: How big a deal is it for the YES Company to perform at the Gallo Center for the Arts?

A: It is an absolute privilege to have the opportunity to have our young people from Stanislaus County be on a stage like the Mary Stuart Rogers Theater at the Gallo Arts Center. They will perform before an audience of 1,200. They are going to have such a professional experience. One of YES Company's main goals has been to give the children the most positive and professional experiences possible. ... We've always had fabulous production value, but now we're in a theater that has access to even more tricks we can use and beautiful dressing rooms. They're very, very lucky children to be able to do this.

Q: How much more expensive is it for you to perform at the Gallo Center rather than in schools as you have in the past?

A: I can say it's a considerable amount we're going to have to raise to perform at Gallo. We must pay to use their facility. We need to fill our audience every night so we can meet those expenses.

Bee arts writer Lisa Millegan can be reached at lmillegan@modbee.com or 578-2313.