ST. ALBANS, W.Va. — A local group of young actors in Kanawha County are taking their talents to national heights.
Alban Arts Center Theatre Director Mariah Plante told Dave Allen on 580 Live Monday that the Teen Intensive Company she put together last year at the arts center in St. Albans has become more successful than she could have ever imagined when they brought back first regional and then national awards in March.
“I mean, none of us do this business for the money to get rich, we do it for the love of the craft and for the community and for the kids, but every once in a while when someone notices, it’s a really nice little feather in your cap,” Plante said.
Mariah Plante
She said it all started when the group came together to put on a production of a play called ‘The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane,’ which is based on a novel by Kate DiCamillo. It’s a children’s story about a china rabbit who learns the meaning behind love and friendship.
Plante said they didn’t anticipate the success the performance would garner until they took it to a bigger stage.
“We started out just sort of making this as a gift to present our community with, to have some summer programming both in Charleston and St. Albans and in Beckley, but we ended up taking the production to the West Virginia Theatre Association Community Theatre Festival in Buckhannon last November, and they were awarded with Outstanding Props Design, Outstanding Ensemble Acting,” she said.
In addition, Plante said the group was also awarded with Outstanding Production Design for the performance.
She said because of that, they then got to move on to the Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) in Baltimore, Maryland, the largest gathering and network of theater practitioners in the country.
Plante said they ended up coming away from that national competition with an Outstanding Props Design award and an Outstanding Solo Acting award.
However, she said whether they received an award there or not, it was a great experience they were given the honor of attending.
“That was really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these kids to go and not only showcase their work, but get to witness so many incredible works of theater from across the country,” she said.
Plante said she owes getting to this point to her life-long dedication of a well-established cycle of community arts and theater-making in the Charleston area.
“I came up doing children’s theater with CYAC and the Charleston Light Opera Guild, and lots of different community theater groups, and it was really where I found out that if I use my voice effectively, I can communicate my ideas and make people feel things,” said Plante.
She said she is also honored in getting to inspire the next generation of West Virginia youth to express themselves on the stage.
Plante said she works with community theaters across the state, not only with Alban Arts Center but Theater West Virginia in Raleigh County as well.
She said they have some big performances coming up for the summer theater season on both stages.
Plante said at the Alban Theatre, they will soon be holding academy classes for children of all ages as they prepare for the auditioning process of Tuck Everlasting. She said those classes will be held during the last weekend in April with the performance set for this summer.
She said they are also currently holding theater classes in Beckley at Theatre WV, which is starting to produce its summer season of Hatfield’s & McCoy’s, Honey in The Rock, and Into the Woods. Additionally, Plante said she will be directing the youth production of ‘Seussical’ at Theatre WV.