Students learn what goes on...
(ERIN HOOLEY/Standard-Examiner) Hailey Packer, 11, walks through the costume room at Hale Centre Theatre in West Valley City on Tuesday.)
By LORETTA PARK
Standard-Examiner Davis Bureau
lpark@standard.net
WEST VALLEY CITY -- Fifth-grader Hailey Luekler auditioned for a "commercial" in front of her Eagle Bay Elementary classmates at Hale Centre Theatre.
"I'm really shy," said the Farmington student.
Rosalie Richards, a theater member and tour guide, encouraged the youngster to speak up.
It was part of the theater tour the students participated in Tuesday. The entire student body will have a chance to walk behind the scenes of the theater and learn it takes more than actors to put on a play.
Principal Ofelia Wade said, each year, a planning committee of teachers, parents and herself decide on a theme the school will focus on to enhance learning. This year's theme is "Learning Through the Arts."
"We feel that learning through the arts enhances the cognitive, social and emotional development of students, as well as enhances their ability to express themselves," she said.
In September and October, the school focused on visual arts. Music was the focus of November and December. This month, Ballet West members are coming to the school to teach dance movements.
February is theater month. After Wade learned about the free AT&T Access Theatre Education program at Hale Centre Theatre, she arranged for all grades to participate in the free tours.
On Tuesday, three fifth-grade classes were split into two groups, one going with Richards, who has been with the theater 23 years, the other going with Alison Jensen, who has been at the theater 31/2 years.
"(Students) see they have options out there and see there is culture," said Heidi Robb, a parent who attended the field trip.
First stop for Jensen's 40-plus students was the costume shop. Hundreds of dresses, pants, suits, jackets and belts hung in a giant closet.
Jensen held up a black top hat and asked what type of person would wear it.
"A gentleman," one student said.
Then it was off to see where the costumes are made.
"We need to hurry," Jensen said. "We don't have a ton of time, and I want to show you a zillion things."
Several Hale Centre Theatre costume designers were busy drawing, cutting and sewing costumes for the upcoming production of "Phantom."
Then it was off to the prop room to see where fake food, chandeliers and other small props are kept. Larger props, like sofas, chairs and tables, are stored in a large warehouse, said Mark Dietlein, theater co-founder.
He brought a model of the "Phantom" set for the group to see.
"We have to change our stage for eight weeks into the Paris Opera House," he said.
At the warehouse, seven people spend three months constructing the set for each production. The set is then brought to the theater in pieces and reassembled in less than a week, Dietlein said.
"Funding for extracurricular activities has been pulled way back, and this gives kids some cultural education they are not getting in schools," he said.
By introducing students to the theater, it also ensures a future audience, Dietlein said.
"Soon they will be dating and having families and looking for entertainment options."
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