Rising Stars are a gift to the community

Late this past December, The Riverdale Y was a rocking place. It was the celebration of 13 years of teenage musical theater that have been roaring through Riverdale in successive waves since 2001 through the strong direction, kindhearted and total commitment of the founder and director of the Riverdale Rising Stars — Laurie Walton and her handful of dedicated staff. 

The Rising Stars are known across our community as a theater group that creates well-crafted musical theater performances. Beginning in 2001 with “Grease” and running up to the current production of “The sound of Music,” they have produced over 40 musicals and dramas. Each of these have had six- to eight-day runs to packed audiences. That adds up to over 240 days of theater for our community in 13 years!  

They have also tackled dramas and issues of public concern. We’ve been informed and entertained by challenging productions such as “Steel Magnolias,” “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “The Laramie Project.” Just this past month, they produced “It’s Easy,” a play written by January Akselrad and Jennifer Young that addresses schoolyard bullying.  

The Rising Stars have branched out into various performance groups: the Jr. Rising Stars, the Jr. Jr. Rising Stars and summer stock programs including former Rising Stars. Additionally, there is theater programming as part of the summer camp and holiday weeks at The Y. This provides much needed creative outlets for children and jobs for aspiring performers.

The outcome of these productive efforts is that youngsters from countless local families have been given the opportunity to learn all the aspects of the craft of theater, right in their backyard. 

This includes not only the valuable acting experience, but technical training as well. Lighting and sound at The Riverdale Y’s Neuwirth Theatre have been upgraded to the highest quality. Shows in “our little corner of the world” are often supported by terrific orchestras with as many as 10 instruments. Sets are professionally designed and built. Costumes are carefully ordered with close attention to details. And all the production values such as makeup, props, etc. are overseen by parents with excellent skills and theater backgrounds.       

As a result of these high standards, the Riverdale Rising Stars have won dozens of National Youth Theater Awards for their recent productions, including outstanding ensemble, for “Rent,” in the 2013-14 season. Ms. Walton also won the director award for her work on the same show.

Taking all of this into account, the Riverdale Rising Stars would be blessing enough for a community that a generation ago didn’t have a community theater. Back in the ‘60s, when I was growing up in Riverdale, The Y was in a postage stamp of a building next to the Conservative Synagogue. And the programming often consisted of a ping-pong paddle and a record player! 

But only to mention these physical attributes of the RRS is to miss another major contribution that the Riverdale Rising Stars provide for our neighborhood. This, simply stated, is the care and concern that Ms. Walton has in her oversized and endlessly connecting heart.

This love is translated into action by her choosing the most dedicated staff; by her attention to every possible detail without over emphasizing her own importance; by allowing children to find their voices and then encouraging them to grow and take on more risks and responsibility; by giving of her own resources when the community falls short in the generous use of her husband, Bob Walton, as a rehearsal coach; and in the donation of food for hungry youngsters doing long and sometimes tedious rehearsals.     

Taking all of these attributes into consideration for parents, the RRS is a resource that has immeasurable rewards. To send our children into a safe and creative environment to participate in developing skills and to see them come home over and over again with happiness in their hearts is a gift to which all parents can relate. Then to watch them translate all they have learned into a well-knit theater garment performed night after night in a beautiful and highly professional theater is truly a joy. And finally, to see them develop and transform over years of working with other youngsters into an ensemble of multiple dimensions is most truly inspiring.

So imagine now if you will, on a recent weekend at The Riverdale Y, a Shabbaton of sorts, with 50 children more or less from the very earliest of the teen years to the very oldest of the twenty somethings representing all different religious views and backgrounds coming together as a creative force to recreate some of their best musical numbers from their years on our local stage. Is this not a tribal event worthy of the name Bar Mitzvah!      

Think not only of the task before them to prepare a feast of songs and dances as long as it was deep, but think also of the human elements of a reunion of three generations of  high school students, some meeting for the first time — especially the older and younger groups who did not share time in the theater “sandbox” together.       

Can you even begin to grasp what these past 13 years have meant for this community — for these children? The connection not only to craft and creativity, but to care and concern through cooperation and ultimately to community that has flowered into friendships and support will last for many years to come — possibly even lifetimes.   

There is in effect a group psychology here of not only doing the best, but doing the best in the best way. Listen to the words from their bios: “the oasis of my adolescence;” “purpose, joy and growth throughout my teenage years;” “life-long friends;” “feel in love — not with performance, but with the friends she made and the monumental impact of theater;” ‘truly changed his life;” “provided a haven where she could learn, blossom and form lasting friendship.”

It is finally the summation of the craft and creativity connected to the caring and concern that has turned this group of individuals into a community of players that really has grown into a theater family. 

As Emily Walton, one of the first Rising Stars and the resident choreographer, sang in a number at the end of the night:

We were friends, we were lovers,      

We were brothers and sisters      

We were kids at the top of our game      

Oh, how long ago      

Oh, I’ll never know that again      

A little piece of heaven      

A little piece of heaven it has been.

(There is currently a drive going on at the Y to sell plaques for the seats at the theater. If you would be interested in supporting the arts in Riverdale by dedicating a seat to a loved one or in the name of your family, please contact srenfro@riverdaley.org or rdfeld@aol.com.)

Rick Feldman is a retired public school teacher who was lives in Riverdale. Shawn Renfro is managing director of The Y’s  performing arts camp. Point of view is a column open to all.