Next Childrens Workshop: Alice In Wonderland. Practices are July 14-25 from 9:30 am-3:30 pm. Please provide sack lunches. No Saturday or Sunday rehearsals. Performances are August 1,2,3,7,8,9. Registration Information now available at the Box Office.

Kids, parents work hand in hand in Muncie Civic's Family Theatre Workshop Series
By JOHN CARLSON

The floor in the upper reaches of the aged building was crowded with innocent, snoozing, hard-working orphan girls, all wearing dowdy dresses.

Just then, a nasty, cackling crone shuffled in, ordered one little sweetie to her feet and swatted her on the rear end with a half-pint whiskey bottle.

Would Darrin Murrell, who had witnessed this travesty, come to her aid?

Nah.

He told the crone to swat her again.

Not to worry, though. This wasn't happening in real life. It was happening in Muncie Civic Theatre, where Murrell, the girls and a smattering of adults were preparing for the show Annie Jr!, the latest production in Civic's Family Theatre Workshop Series.

Such workshops have been a great success.

"It's a rare opportunity for kids and parents to work hand in hand," said Murrell, Civic's executive director. "They can interact as colleagues and peers."

Under the program, bringing parents and their children together becomes an all-around educational experience, one in which they can share goals, knowledge and communication.

"We have entire families working on the project," said Murrell, whose long brown hair flowed from the back of the ball cap he was wearing. "We tend to attract participation from parents who, by their nature, are educators, whether professional or not."

Among the adults in the room was Lisa Etchison, who plays the kindly secretary Grace Farrell in the production, which also features her daughter Skylar, 13, as an orphan, and her son, Daniel, 10, as a newspaper boy. The workshops, she said, had helped her kids learn to work with others and be comfortable in front of people.

"There's been growth in both of them," said Etchison, whose sweet soprano voice had filled this room a few days earlier as she rehearsed her part with the youngsters. "They both have learned these skills."

Skylar agreed that her participation in the Family Theatre Workshop Productions -- of which Annie Jr! is the fourth to be staged -- had been valuable.

"It gives kids a chance to learn about theater and do a show at the same time," the eighth-grader said, adding that it had also honed her performance skills since first participating as a 9-year-old. "I was pretty much tone deaf and now I can sing. I've improved a bunch since I've started."

The show's star -- 12-year-old J.J. Kern, the poor kid who was swatted by the ruthless Miss Hannigan, played by Beth Turcotte -- is another beneficiary of the program.

"I've learned to project more when you're talking on stage," said the waif-like blonde, who was dressed in Annie's brilliant crimson dress. "And I like working with all the other girls."

But, she added, it's also special to be in a show with her father.

"I like doing shows with him," she said. "I have family that I can relate things to."

The dad in question, Gary C. Kern, is chief information officer at Mutual Federal Savings Bank. He knows what it's like to be a kid on stage.

"The first show I was in," he noted, "I was 9 years old."

He chuckled, in recalling the agreement that resulted in trying out for this show with his daughter: "If you go try out, I will," they decided.

The result has been fun for both.

"She's having a blast," he said, adding that the workshop productions give him a chance to match time with her that he spends with his son, coaching the boy's soccer team. "It's something that she and I can do together."

That's why Kern -- whose four small roles in Annie Jr! range from an aide to FDR to Bundles the laundry man -- was among the proud parents looking on as the kids sang, followed the choreography and pretended to scrub the floor with mops and empty buckets.

They also belted out Hard-Knock Life and other numbers to an accompanying soundtrack from a silver boom box, while walls full of old play posters, an abandoned piano and stacked hat boxes hinted at the Muncie Civic Theatre productions this practice room had birthed.

What it all added up to, Murrell said, was "an advanced experience" for young and old alike, working with sets, costumes and more in finally staging a real show.

"It's a chance to step it up a notch," he said, "based on the final product."

The youngsters whose families support them through the Family Theatre Workshop become well-rounded thespians, Murrell agreed, and something else.

"Even more than that," he added, "a well-rounded person."

Special Thanks: The Star Press

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