A family from Oyster Bay recently had the unique opportunity to enjoy a behind-the-scenes tour of the theater at the Long Island Children’s Museum in Garden City. From the moment they entered the museum to their big moment in the spotlight, participants got to experience at least some of what the performers in the 145-seat theater do.
The tour, the very first of its kind, is an offering made exclusively available to Friends of the Theatre (FOTT) members. Theater Program Coordinator Cindy-Lou Edwards is overseeing the new initiative and says it was a way of thanking the families who have been coming for years to the programs at the theater.
The tour began when the participants entered through a secret door in the museum.
“Many of our staff don’t even know about this door,” said Theater Director Jim Packard.
On the other side, they found what is referred to in show business as the “green room,” although no one is quite certain why. According to Packard, one of the theories is that traditionally, the room where the performers wait for their time to go out on stage would have been outside on grass, hence the name.
Backstage, participants fiddled with the lighting and sound systems. On stage they experienced the magic of lighting. With lights of three colors, red, blue and green, they were able to make shadows in varying shades of the rainbow.
As the group moved around the stage, they learned theater lingo–being asked to move from stage right to stage left, upstage and down and to the “house,” where the audience sits.
According to Maureen P. Mangan, director of marketing and communications, “The success of last year’s ‘Puppet’s Take Long Island’ festival served as a catalyst for the FOTT program.”
The festival took place over an eight-week period and included a different puppeteer each week. Families were given a punch card to track their performances. Those who attended all eight were given a t-shirt. Watching families return week after week gave theater directors the idea to reward that loyalty in a more meaningful way.
The LICM has set its mission to be a place where visitors of all ages can explore freely, discover their passions and appreciate the communities and world we share. With the inception of the FOTT program, visitors will now not only get to watch a series of wonderful performances from “the house,” but will have more opportunities to interact with the performers and experience their practice.
“We want to help children to find their voice,” said Edwards.
And find their voice they have. During their first interactive workshop, children got to experience the feeling of welcoming the audience to the theater while under the spotlight and standing downstage center. Three-year-old Rosabella Memon, whose mom says she has a hard time getting her to say hello to relatives, decided to belt out the song “Let It Go,” from Disney’s Frozen, the moment she was handed the microphone.
Anyone interested in joining the FOTT program can contact Cindy-Lou Edwards, at cledwards@licm.org.
