Tuesday, Feb. 08, 2011

Durant Road theatre group takes home top honor in Atlanta

As Hollywood prepares to honor its best and conclude this year's awards season, a Raleigh theater group has already taken home its big prize.

The Durant Road Musical Theatre group recently won Best Overall Production at the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta for its production of "The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley, Jr."

The festival, which began in 2003 and this year consisted of 56 groups and 2,200 people from around the country, is an annual event run by the New York-based group iTheatrics.

"The kids from Durant Road Musical Theatre really shined in terms of their spirit," said Lindsay Weiner, music supervisor and education and administrative associate for iTheatrics. "You can tell that they just enjoyed what they were doing so much."

Tasia Whicker, 15, said her experience at the Junior Theater Festival was a lot of fun, but the moments leading up to the announcement of Best Overall Production were a little stressful.

"It was so suspenseful," Whicker said with a smile. "When our name went up there, everybody just stood up and cheered and started hugging each other. It was just an insanely high moment."

Debbie Rollins, one of the directors of the Durant Road group, said one reason programs such as hers are so important is because they teach kids the basics of interpersonal communication.

"Getting back to dealing with people, face-to-face and one-on-one and interacting face-to-face is so important, and I think that live theater offers that," Rollins said.

Rollins, along with husband Dean, started the theatre in the couple's kitchen in 2001.

They started handing out fliers around Raleigh beginning in September of that year. A week later came the terrorist attacks 9/11.

"We thought, 'Well, nobody's going to care. They're going to be preoccupied,'" Rollins said. "The exact opposite happened. People responded really well. We got tons of phone calls and within six months we were out of my kitchen and into an actual brick and mortar space."

The theatre, which offers everything from performance-based classes and workshops to piano lessons, is "a gift," to parent Karen Miller, whose daughters Julianna and Emily are in the group. Miller said she has noticed a marked difference in her children since they joined.

"I've just watched them blossom. They really have an amazing ability now to get up in front of others and lead," she said. "It's just amazing."

Juliet Whicker, Tasia's mother, said being part of the group has helped her daughter by challenging her to learn new things.

"Tasia is a pretty serious, straight-A, focused type individual," she said. "This has been so good for her because it gets her out of her comfort zone and gets her doing something that she doesn't normally do.

Julianna Miller, 10, is one of the youngest members of the group that ranges from 7- to 18-year-olds. She said the best thing about the group is that you get to be yourself.

"It's fun to be on the stage," she said.

"You can be as loud as you want and no one will care because you are supposed to be loud."