Goodbye from Julee

For the last six years, I have been proud to call Nashville home. The new year, however, brings exciting possibilities (and weather) for my family as we relocate to Los Angeles! I am thrilled to be the new Associate Director of Public Affairs with The Help Group, a large nonprofit in San Fernando Valley that provides comprehensive educational services to families and children with autism, ADHD, learning disabilities and related disorders. I will be charged with programming for a beautiful theatre space that is part of the Help Group’s brand new center for children with autism. Through my work at NCT, I have discovered that designing curriculum for children with special needs is something that I am driven to do. And, of course, I eagerly await was lies ahead for my husband, Ross, in Hollywood!

My time as Director of Education at Nashville Children's Theatre has been full of many incredible opportunities (and some challenges, no doubt), and it has been particularly exciting to be here during such a significant era in the evolution of this organization.

When I first arrived at NCT in January 2005, NCT had just been ranked by TIME magazine as one of the top 5 children’s theatre’s in the country. I was thrilled to join the team at a theatre with such a tremendous history and reputation. Even that TIME article, though, referenced NCT’s humble space, and when I arrived I was definitely surprised to find broken seats, a box office that had been a broom closet, and that no one even had voicemail (in 2005!). To be part of the phenomenal transformation of this organization through a capital campaign, a building renovation and the program expansion to fill that new space has been exceptionally rewarding to me. However, most thrilling is that due to the hard work and commitment of the Board, staff and community, children and families enjoy the spectacular space they deserve!

I am also immensely proud of the work I have done here at Nashville Children’s Theatre, both onstage and off. Being able to bring new and expanded programs that serve so many children, families and educators from this community has been an honor.

While we really couldn’t be more excited about our upcoming move, it is somewhat bittersweet as we are leaving so many families and friends in Nashville that we have come to know and love. However, knowing that NCT will thrive and continue its great work in service of these families and the children of Middle Tennessee, and that I have been a part of that, is enormous consolation.

And not to be shortchanged, during my time in Nashville, I have also gained an amazing husband and a beautiful baby boy. And I’m taking them with me!

Again, thank you for the many, rich experiences my family and I have received at Nashville Children’s Theatre. I wish this organization, the Board, the staff and its community all the best in the years to come.

My Very Best,
Julee Brooks

What's in a name?

On Sunday, November 14, 2010, Nashville Children’s Theatre will host its annual fundraiser, Grand Day. While the event is taking on an entirely new persona this year with a pre-show tea party and a post-show carnival, there is still one element that remains the same – its spotlight on family. At Grand Day we celebrate that generations of Nashville grandparents, parents and children have come together to share numerous stories within the walls of NCT.
This year we honor grandparent Betty Witherspoon who, as a pediatric nurse, has spent her life caring for many of our own children when they needed love most.

I first met Betty five years ago just weeks after I had begun as Education Director at NCT. I remember sitting next to her in the two old chairs in the lobby (pre-renovation) and helping her select a class for Josh, a young man who she thought would benefit from acting classes. I helped her with the registration form and sent her on her merry way. I thought it lovely that she was creating opportunities for kids she knew and understood what the arts can do for them, but being new to Nashville and its darlings, I never thought twice about her name. Witherspoon.
Over the next ten weeks, Ross, who has been in many shows at NCT (and is now my husband who endlessly reminds me that he was here long before I arrived on the scene), taught Josh’s class. Josh and Ross, somewhat kindred spirits, quickly identified with each other, and Ross and I both were delighted to watch Josh’s work in class and onstage. And, of course, Betty was watching carefully, too.
Week by week, Josh emerged more confident and disciplined. He dug Ross, who embodies “cool” in a kind, responsible way and Ross saw in Josh his own shy 12 year-old self.

The class performed their scenes at the end of the session, and Josh came alive onstage. We all were immensely proud of him, but of course, none more so than Betty. After the show, Betty met me by the edge of the stage and thanked me for what NCT had given them. Betty wanted Josh to take more classes including an upcoming summer camp that interested him.
“The only problem,” Betty said, “is that it’s a two-week camp, and I can only bring him the first week. I need to be in California the second week to keep my grandkids.”
“Oh, your family’s in California?” I asked.
“Yes, when my daughter’s on set, I help with the kids,” she replied matter-of-factly.
“On set? Is she in movies?” And still, with her love of acting and children and her ability to recognize young talent and the name Witherspoon, I had never put it together.
“Yes, her name is Reese Witherspoon. You might have heard of her,” she replied innocently.
I might have heard of her? I might have heard of her? Three months after Reese’s Oscar for Walk the Line and her beautiful, perfectly Southern acceptance speech, Betty’s humility completely endeared me to her. Yes, of course, I had heard of her. And so had the kids and the parents who stood nearby as the conversation unfolded. While I smiled and was nearly at a loss for words (a rarity for me), I simply replied that I loved Reese’s work and that Ross and I would try to help her make sure Josh got to NCT.

Betty and I had become friends. Not because I was aware enough to even figure out that that she was a famous mom, but rather because she was exactly like every other mom or dad or parent or friend who brings a child to NCT. She believes that NCT is a place where young people build confidence, discover themselves and maybe even find their place in this world. Because, to borrow from Reese’s homage to another Tennessee legend, June Cash, we all “just wanna matter.”
After five years, I still see Betty as exactly the same person I did when I met her, as a parent who wants the best for her children and every child she loves.

Julee Brooks
NCT Director of Education

Drama Camp 2010 in the books

Another summer has come and gone at NCT. Every year we say that the next summer can't possibly be any bigger or better than the past, but it seems that somehow each camp season is the most rockin' we've ever seen!

Here's how summer 2010 broke down for us:
10 weeks
56 shows on NCT's stage
61 different camps
912 campers

In those ten weeks, we saw our share of kings, queens, pirates, animals, mythical creatures, fairies and even a ninja or two. We ventured into fantastical worlds and ancient places. We saw many heroes reign victorious and many villains get their just desserts. We witnessed battles with dramatic deaths, zany circus acts and disco dance parties. We stepped inside some of the greatest stories every told and got to know characters we'd only read about before. And of course we did it all before moms and dads and grandmas and babysitters arrived in the pick-up line at 3:00pm.

We love that so many families grace us with their children every year. We love seeing so many familiar faces arrive each Monday morning, and we love meeting new friends that will be familiar faces next summer. We love the excitement that permeates every square foot of NCT on Friday in anticipation of the shows. And most of all, we love watching your kids grow and become who they're meant to be. We are grateful that you let us be a part of that.

So thank you all for another wonderful summer, thank you for allowing your children to play with us, and thank you for your loyalty to NCT.

And while we say that every summer seems like it can't get bigger and better, we honestly know that there is always more room in the NCT family.

Julee Brooks
NCT Director of Education

New Plays: New Visions/New Voices part 2

Over the three days of the symposium, we saw five staged readings of new American plays, as well as one from South Africa and one from Australia. For me, the following three plays were the highlights:

Jeffrey Hatcher’s adaptation of Philip Pullman’s THE SCARECROW AND HIS SERVANT (commissioned by the Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis) might surprise fans of Pullman’s HIS DARK MATERIALS, because there was nothing dark about this one – in fact, this one was a delightful brew of both high and low comedy in pretty equal measure. I’ve never read this book, so I’m not sure if the rapier wit of the dialogue is more Mr. Hatcher or Mr. Pullman, but – judging from Mr. Hatcher’s hilarious comments in the post-show talkback session, I have a good guess. I’ll find out soon, because I’ve put the book on my summer reading list.

Many of us were looking forward to our first look at the third play of Suzan Zeder’s Ware Cycle, THE EDGE OF PEACE, commissioned by Seattle Children’s Theatre. I directed the first play of that trilogy, MOTHER HICKS, here at NCT in about 1988 or so, and I consider that play to be one of the best American plays of the last quarter of the last century. The second installment was an absorbing prequel entitled THE TASTE OF SUNRISE. This third, and final, piece continues and resolves the stories and characters from the first two plays, connecting them in some surprising and satisfying developments. Girl, the much-loved young protagonist from MOTHER HICKS, makes her entrance in the third play, all grown up – by parachute! The symposium moderator stated after the performance that this one, for many of us, was both a new play and a sort of family reunion, and so it was – and I think, successful on both counts.

The play that really rocked my world – and that I am most eyeing for future production at NCT -- was Y York’s DON’T TELL ME I CAN’T FLY, commissioned by First Stage Milwaukee. This play focuses on a nine-year-old African American girl named Tonia who is struggling to balance the family conflicts presented by her own emerging creativity. The play, inspired by the life and works of multi-media collage artist Della Wells, is warm, humane, deliciously funny and thoroughly life-affirming. It’s just a terrific play, written by a master of the field. After viewing this one, a playwright colleague observed, “Leave it to Y to remind us of how to write a play!” The play will premiere in Milwaukee season-after-next, and I hope to put it on NCT’s stage soon thereafter! The reading was greatly served by Mark Lutwak’s restrained, assured direction, and by a terrific ensemble cast!

Scot Copeland
NCT Producing Director

An Amazing Community

It’s been almost three months since the flood and I found myself needing to drive back through my old neighborhood off Pennington Bend and look at the progress. You see, my family and I had been renting a house near Opryland since we moved from Atlanta in January. We evacuated our house early on May 2nd when the water starting building up in the streets and weren’t able to get back to it for several days. I consider us lucky. We were renting our house so we only lost stuff. Mostly replaceable stuff. So many of our neighbors lost everything they owned in that flood and now, when I drive through, I see the streets dotted with “Pods” of their salvageable belongings as they continue to (hopefully) move forward in the process of rebuilding. As for us, we have moved on to a different rental house with different stuff. We are lucky.

The feeling that still overwhelms me is gratitude. Nashville is an amazing community of people who truly have the volunteer spirit. There was never a time in the whole post-flood process where I felt like we wouldn’t be okay or felt alone. From the families at our kids’ school to the congregations of local churches, we were surrounded by help during the days of clearing out the house and separating our life’s accumulation of stuff into piles of trash and salvage. Once that was complete, we had a temporary place to stay and all the items we absolutely needed to create an atmosphere of normalcy for the kids. Again, this was thanks to the community, specifically the families from school and the staff and board members of NCT.

Since then, I’ve continued to witness and benefit from amazing acts of kindness and generosity. Three months later there is no doubt that this – both Nashville as a whole and Nashville Children’s Theatre – is exactly where I am supposed to be today.

Kathryn Colegrove
NCT Managing Director

Flowers in Kathryn's backyard were buds covered by mud and water during the flood, but bloomed beautifully amidst the recovery a few days after the water receded.

New Plays: New Visions/New Voices

Every two years, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presents a play development symposium focused on new plays for young audiences called New Visions/New Voices. It is one of the gatherings I never miss, because I will see new plays in various stages of development that are coming down the pipeline, as well as trade both best practices and war stories with colleagues from around the country. Three of my favorite plays done during my time at NCT were plays I first encountered in development at NV/NV – Laurie Brooks’ SELKIE (NV/NV1995, NCT 1997), Laurie’s groundbreaking play THE WRESTLING SEASON (NV/NV1998, NCT 2000), and Karen Zacarias and Deborah Wicks La Puma’s extraordinary musical, EINSTEIN IS A DUMMY (NV/NV2004, NCT 2006).

The conference is always a great one, thanks to the efforts of its’ organizers, the KenCen’s Kim Peter Kovac and Deirdre Lavrakas, and this year was particularly rich for me. Of course, the opportunity to get together with colleagues is always good, but after the challenges of the last two years, it was marvelous to gain insight and inspiration from wonderful practitioners from around the country.

I actually got there a day early, which allowed me to see the KenCen’s production of KNUFFLE BUNNY before the symposium started. Imaginatively directed by Alliance Theatre’s Rosemary Newcott (one of my favorite directors in the field), with a wonderful cast, I was delighted by the theatricality, the imaginative puppetry, and the far-more-sophisticated use of projections than we are currently able to do at NCT. KNUFFLE BUNNY will tour nationally this season, and if it comes near you, check it out. Besides, on that tour, NCT’s own Tia Shearer (you may recognize her from our productions of BAMBI: A LIFE IN THE WOODS or THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK) will be in the cast – congratulations, Tia! Tia just moved up to the D.C. area, and between the KenCen and IMAGINATION STAGE in Bethesda, has lined up a full season of work.

More to come about New Visions/New voices

Scot Copeland
NCT Producing Director

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