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“[Opening Act] allows people like me and other amazing teaching artists to go and do professional work and then be able to bring that experience back into the classroom,” said Patrick Vassel, assistant director for “Magic/Bird.” “Opening Act does an amazing job of finding that middle ground where people can do both. It’s what’s best for kids because I can answer all their questions about being in a Broadway show.”
The benefit included a silent auction and a reading of Donald Margulies’ “Collected Stories” with Tony award-winners Laura Benanti (“Gypsy”) and Stockard Channing (“Other Desert Cities,” “The West Wing”). The production was directed by Michael Mastro (“West Side Story”).
The witty and articulate show brought up the deep issues of trust, friendship, and vulnerability that exist in a learning environment. For Benanti, “Collected Stories” hit close to her own personal experiences with acting mentors and inspirations like Channing and Patti LuPone, her “Gypsy” co-star.
“That first scene where I’m like, ‘I love you so much!’ [to Channing], that was not acting,” said Benanti. “I actually just felt that way about her.
“As the play progressed, I took from my relationship with Patti LuPone. We’re so so close, and I imagined what it would be like if she and I were in this situation, what it might feel like. She’s obviously not my mother, but she feels close to me like my family and if I inadvertently betrayed her in that way, what would it do to me psychologically.”
Before the reading, Opening Act students and the Teaching Artists who helped them throughout the course of the program, took the stage and provided testimonials of their experiences.
Yunen Buduan, who has participated in the program for five years, was one student chosen to speak in the prelude. “When I walked into the classroom, I just felt different,” Buduan told Back Stage about participating in Opening Act. “To see the ensemble, how it grew, the support I got from everyone, how it changed me over that one year -- my whole personality changed.”
When asked what set Opening Act apart from other programs from him, Buduan replied, “the Teaching Artists.”
“What we’ve learned from a lot of our students is that the relationship they develop with their Teaching Artists is a big part of why being a part of Opening Act is so life-changing for them,” said Suzy Myers Jackson, executive director of Opening Act. “To find a play that spoke to that was exciting for us.”
After witnessing a shooting outside of his school, one student wrote a play about a friendless character named Necro, living in a post-apocalyptic world. His best friend was his gun. The student was instructed to write a scene where Necro successfully makes a friend, allowing him to cope with the trauma of seeing a fellow classmate killed.
“There’s something about making a space for students to connect with one another that makes you step back and realize that, more important than what you’re doing are the relationships they’re making with one another,” said Korinne Donly, one of the teaching artists. “You’re facilitating something when you needed it. When you were the kid in high school that didn’t fit in and theater saved your life. You realize, ‘Oh my god, I’m doing that for someone else now.’”
Watch a video about Opening Act below.
