If drama be the food of youth leadership, a group of Shooting Stars is feasting right now.
Shooting Stars is the theatre company operated by local actor/director Melissa Glover for young thespians. Each year they do a Shakespearament in live theatre, and they are in the lab right now. This year the production is Twelfth Night, a meaty comedy written by the great bard of English drama.
Ten aspiring actors are applying themselves to the challenge. Some were born great, some will achieve greatness, and some will have greatness thrust upon them when the curtain rises on Friday.
"I love it. This is my favourite thing ever," said Katriel Hrankowski, 16, a three-year veteran of the Shooting Stars summer camp.
"I love theatre and I love literature so Shakespeare is awesome. And I love the people."
It wasn't always so easy for Hrankowski to feel cozy around others. She is outgoing and engaging but openly wears her shy side.
She credits past Shooting Stars productions and other theatrical forays with widening her comfort zone.
"When I went into it, I had to decide that if people didn't like me, that was OK, that was their loss, but when you do a play you find out that everyone is involved because they are a theatre geek like you, no matter what their background might look like on the surface," she said.
"It makes it easier to get to know people."
Olivia White is 14 and doing Shooting Stars for the first time, although she has performance experience from Dance Your Hart Out and Excalibur Theatre Arts. This was the next progression for her in what might be a future career.
"Being up on stage in front of people doesn't bug me. I'm completely an extroverted social butterfly," she said. "I got into theatre a lot at Duchess (Park Secondary School). I got to help out the senior production last year, and that showed me a lot. I learned about mics and lights and costumes and hair and music. So much goes into a play. It all interests me."
White was already acquainted with a couple of the other Shooting Stars performers, so comfort came quickly with the group.
"The people are great here. It's not everyone who wants to spend their summer memorizing Shakespeare for a public performance, that's a group that's probably going to fit, once you get to know them," she said.
"It's really fun and the director, Mel, is awesome. She really knows what she's doing. I'm learning every day how to read something new into the lines and show more emotion."
Glover doesn't have much to work with. The students are full of youthful eagerness, but the timelines are tight. They have 10 days of rehearsals over a two-week period. They go from perhaps first-time performers, perhaps as young as nine, to full performance readiness in that period. And this is Shakespeare, don't forget, not Dick & Jane.
"Twelfth Night is great because every actor here gets to have a substantial character, the roles are all three-dimensional, so everyone gets a chance to be really involved," Glover said.
"It's a comedy and it is easy to follow, which also helps. I just told them right away that we are all equal here, because there is a tendency at first to judge an actor by how many lines they have, but they soon get into the rhythm and find out that a play depends on every part - on-stage and backstage - so they are in this together. They are accountable to each other."
For the past four years, Glover has been able to conduct the Shooting Stars drama camp at Theatre Northwest which she said immediately added an extra layer of impact for the actors involved.
Having the professional space, with the lighting and sound and other theatrical capabilities was a way to open the kids' eyes even wider to the possibilities of this art form.
"It's amazing to see the growth of the kids in just 10 days," Glover said.
One prime example is assistant director Elizabeth Klassen, a longtime Shooting Stars alum who has aged beyond the camp. She happened to have a break from her summer job that coincided with this year's camp. She joined the production staff as a helpful bridge between Glover and the participants. It's the second time Klassen has been able to take on director support duties with the program that put her on the stage so many times.
The other young actors in Twelfth Night include Nash Walker, Meg Peters, Melissa Clemson, Alexis Brown, Clea McLean, Aquinnah McLean, Lila Digiuseppe and Maya Little.
There are two showings of Twelfth Night on Friday, one at 2 p.m. and one at 7 p.m. Both are held at Theatre Northwest in Parkhill Centre. Admission is by donation.
