Riverbend School training young thespians to become top-notch actors
Published: Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Staff photo by Bob Hammerstrom Colonel Pickering (Micah Edelblut), left, and Professor Higgins (Lucas Nevrla) sing during a rehearsal of My Fair Lady to be performed by the Riverbend School of Theater Arts at the Souhegan Valley Boys & Girls Club in Milford.
Staff photo by Bob Hammerstrom Doolittle (Andrew Cass) and Eliza (Annie Reilly) practice their parts Monday, November 9, 2009, during a rehearsal of My Fair Lady to be performed by the Riverbend School of Theater Arts at the Souhegan Valley Boys & Girls Club in Milford.
Staff photo by Bob Hammerstrom Doolittle (Andrew Cass), center, runs through a dance routine during a rehearsal of My Fair Lady to be performed by the Riverbend School of Theater Arts at the Souhegan Valley Boys & Girls Club in Milford.
Staff photo by Bob Hammerstrom Professor Higgins (Lucas Nevrla), left, and Eliza (Annie Reilly) practice their parts during a rehearsal of My Fair Lady to be performed by the Riverbend School of Theater Arts at the Souhegan Valley Boys & Girls Club in Milford.
Staff photo by Bob Hammerstrom Eliza, played by Annie Reilly, sings and dances during a rehearsal of My Fair Lady to be performed by the Riverbend School of Theater Arts at the Souhegan Valley Boys & Girls Club in Milford.
Staff photo by Bob Hammerstrom Colonel Pickering (Micah Edelblut), left, and Professor Higgins (Lucas Nevrla) sing during a rehearsal of My Fair Lady to be performed by the Riverbend School of Theater Arts at the Souhegan Valley Boys & Girls Club in Milford.
IF YOU GO
Riverbend School of Theater Arts presents “My Fair Lady.”
when: Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, Nov. 20-21, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 22, at 2 p.m.
WHERE: Amato Center for the Performing Arts at the Souhegan Valley Boys & Girls Club, 56 Mont Vernon St., Milford.
TICKETS: Tickets are available at the door, at Toadstool Bookshop in Milford or at www.svbgc.com. Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for seniors and students.
IF YOU GO
Informational meeting for parents and their children ages 10-18 about the Riverbend School of Theater Arts’ upcoming classes.
WHEN: Wednesday from 5:30-6:30 p.m.
WHERE: The Amato Center for the Performing Arts at the Souhegan Valley Boys & Girls Club, 56 Mont Vernon St., Milford.
Cost: The meeting is free. The classes start at about $100 for six weeks.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.svbgc.org or contact Toby Tarnow, artistic director, at 465-3456 or tobytarnow@yahoo.com.
MILFORD – For three years, Toby Tarnow, Susan Reilly and Bruce Williams have been creating theater magic.
The Riverbend School of Theater Arts, a part of the Souhegan Valley Boys & Girls Club, is an intensive theater program that opened in October 2006. Since then, hundreds of teenagers have passed through the program, performing at the Amato Center for the Performing Arts. The Amato Center is one of only three theaters attached to a Boys & Girls Club in the United States and the only theater attached to a Boys & Girls Club that has earned recognition from the New Hampshire Board of Education.
“This is the premier facility. There isn’t anything like it,” said Tarnow, artistic director of Riverbend School.
Beginning with costume design and construction classes in 2006, the program has grown significantly in the past three years thanks to Tarnow, vocal coach Reilly and choreographer Williams. The three have established eight intensive theater programs for students ages 10-18 who express interest in theater or want to improve upon theater skills. Intensive classes range from dance, vocals and costume to Shakespeare and Comedia del Arte master classes, a one-act playwriting contest and a summer theater intensive class for ages 10-14.
There is no question that Riverbend’s students are in professional hands with artistic director Tarnow. At 8 years old, Tarnow began her career at The Lorne Green Academy of Radio Arts in Canada. At the age of 10, she became a professional actress in live radio drama and CBC Radio School broadcasts. Acting in more than 20 television series and episodes since the 1980s, including her lead role as Anne in the 1956 production of “Anne of Green Gables,” Tarnow, 72, is still glowing.
“We have something special to share with the community,” Tarnow said. “This is real. The theater experience doesn’t get more authentic than what we have right here.”
On Wednesday, an informational meeting about Riverbend’s upcoming classes will be held in the lobby of the Amato Center from 5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. Both parents and students are encouraged to attend to learn more about the winter and spring semester classes. The six-week intensive classes start at $100 and are taught by Tarnow, professional instructors, Broadway actors and former graduates from past theater programs. Class sign-ups will also be offered at the meeting.
The New Hampshire Board of Education has approved Tarnow’s radio theater class as an extended learning opportunity. The classes take place out of school, at the theater, and are aimed at helping at-risk students who find the regular classroom experience difficult. The radio theater class is the only extended learning opportunity class in New Hampshire and is open to students in any area high school.
“Students with learning problems or behavioral problems get a boost in self-confidence, earn better grades and learn how to properly interact with students and adults,” Tarnow said. “They learn all of the things on stage that you don’t learn in school.”
Tarnow’s goal for Riverbend is to eventually open up all classes as extended learning opportunities as the programs give students the skills they need to be successful on and off the stage.
Riverbend’s first production, “My Fair Lady,” opens Friday. The 35 students who make up the cast have been rehearsing for three months. The students have immersed themselves in learning script analysis, physical characteristics of the characters and even have a dialect coach.
“ ‘My Fair Lady’ is very literate,” Tarnow said. “They’re training their ears, tongues and bodies. It’s such a treat for students to learn how to enunciate with a thick, Cockney accent.”
Andrew Cass, 18, of Milford, is playing Alfred Doolittle in this year’s production of “My Fair Lady.”
Doolittle, an unusually large man, is also a drunkard.
“I enjoy being able to play parts I wouldn’t be able to do in normal everyday life,” Cass said. “I like being bigger than life.”
Cass describes himself as “Chinese fireworks tied to a chair.” And Tarnow’s approach to theater has allowed Cass to light the fuse.
“She makes theater seem magical and inspiring. She wants to give you enrichment, and her willingness to share with students what she’s taken from theater experiences,” Cass said of Tarnow.
Cass has already written two musicals, is working on a third and is currently the music director for Riverbend’s Youth Co.’s production of “Annie Jr.”
Tickets for “My Fair Lady” are available at the door, at Toadstool Bookshop in Milford or at www.svbgc.com. Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for seniors and students. The play runs from Friday-Sunday and again Friday-Sunday, Nov. 20-22.
For more information on the Riverbend School of Theater Arts, visit www.svbgc.com.
Julianne Hanckel can be reached at 594-5833 or jhanckel@nashuatelegraph.com.
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