LOS ANGELES (AP) – The day after her house burned out, Lala Gantz sent a group message to the youth theatre company she runs in: They Los Angeles Firestorm Stop their upcoming shows.
“Many of our castmates have lost everything,” writes Gantz, director of Youth Theatre at Pacific Palisades’ beloved playhouse. “We’re continuing to rehearse. We’re sure we’ll find a stage.”
Devastating Tuesday, January 7th From the basement to the roof, it smashed every inch of the 125-seat Pearson Playhouse, leaving only the broken steel skeleton. Many of the young actors saw it burn on live television. Approximately half of the 45 cast members of the show, ages 8-17, have either lost their homes or are still unable to return due to serious damage. Many too Lost their school On fire.
But the show continued. A two-week run of last weekend’s musical “Crazy for You” opened in a nearby school auditorium, marking the winning return to the stage for the community that has decided to rise from the ashes. Five more shows It is scheduled for this weekend.
This experience lifted young performers Young people at the theatre palisade From its immeasurable low point, please tell us the healing power of art in the face of disaster.
“The first time I felt happy after the fire was when I stepped into that first rehearsal,” said 17-year-old Kalum Gantz, the director’s son who plays a tap-dance cowboy on the show. “When I sing and dancing, I forget everything else. I don’t think about fire. I’m happy to feel it.”
“It’s always a shock,” he said. My house is gone. ”
Over 6,800 homes and other structures have been flattened Palisade Fire. Worship services, shops and school locations were destroyed, and favourite student hangouts were local skate shops, pizza places and yogurt shops, where young performers were walking after the show for festive snacks.
The idea of reconstruction is still a distant dream. The fire destroyed the theatre’s performance space and everything else. Downstairs wardrobe department, hundreds of costumes and shoes in vintage and new props, piano and other instruments, lights and sound equipment.
The parents took part in social media and pleaded for a donation. They encountered a pouring of generosity from the arts community that stretches from Hollywood to Broadway.
Emmy Award-winning hairstylist Joy Zapata saw one of the posts and emailed his mother who wrote it to make sure it wasn’t a scam, and called a business friend.
“I made a horror film with 100 extras on the Pacific Coast Highway. But this time the story is real and it blew me away,” Zapata said. She held a cast tutorial during dress rehearsals and returned for the opening night with a team of seven Hollywood hair and makeup artists.
“I wanted these kids to feel beautiful and leave,” Zapata said. The Cowgirls got their braided pigtails.
A few weeks ago, Broadway actress Kelly Butler, the Tony nominated star of “Beat Re Juice,” invited her to sing alongside her kids at a concert in Orange County, south of Los Angeles. She then spent the day in a masterclass on character development and vocal techniques.
“I will never forget my time with them,” Butler wrote on Instagram. “I met people who lost their homes, their schools. But they told me when they heard the theater was gone – that was when they felt the deepest loss.”
The group also received wireless microphones from the guitar center and costumes from nearby schools. Paul Revia Charter Middle School has now become the home of the theatre company.
“Home” is a recharged word for a community where many people have lost theirs. But for these young actors and their families, it fits.
“I’m learning that homes aren’t physical,” said Scarlett Shelton, 16, from nearby Culver City, who has been in theaters since middle school.
This is a type of small town playhouse that no longer exists in many parts of the country. Children join young people, stay in high school, and often leave with Broadway dreams. About half of the cast’s children live nearby in Pallisard, the Pacific Ocean, with the rest coming from the entire Los Angeles area.
During the opening night at the new venue, many of the pre-show jitter and ritual felt the same. The big kids calmed the nerves of “Little” as the young actors are lovingly called. Before the show, the entire cast swung behind the curtains, giving them a tweak of inspirational Pep talk. “Take off your socks!” said one child. Another stepped up and said, “Everyone, dance the night!”
Being involved in the show was not a major goal when Gantz sent a text for her group, as she learned that her own family had evacuated and then their home had disappeared.
“On that day of the fire, her life was destroyed in a matter of hours. But it’s “not miserable, I’ve lost everything,” said choreographer Rebecca Barragan. “She said: “We need to rehearse right away and get these kids back up, and let them know that life isn’t over.”
The original cast of 58 children has been reduced to 45 as the family was scattered around the new home. Many are troubled by post-wildfire bureaucracy of insurance and government aid, and are wondering where to go in the future.
“Being with the other kids, creating something and having a purpose was the most soothing thing for us all,” said Wendy Levine, who is attending the show, in sixth grade.
“It was a light in the darkness,” said her husband, Eric Levine. The family had just completed a renovation of their home and had unpacked the boxes when they were ordered to evacuate in the morning of January 7th. They learned that the house had disappeared that night.
Ironically, “Crazy for You” is about a small town theater that struggles to survive, along with the music of George and Ira Gershwin. As the story progresses, after the town’s hometown is smashed at difficult times, the townspeople are energised by creating a show together.
That’s what I felt was real life in the last few weeks, said 14-year-old Sebastian Florid, who loved playing the main character and playing one number in particular.
“One of the lines is, ‘I’m dancing and now I can’t care,'” the teen said. “It’s really approachable. All this bad thing was happening, but I’m tap dancing with my best friend. It was like an escape to a little paradise.”
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