Kids Theater Company Gets Creative In Hampton Bays And Riverhead

Madeline Azzara slowly raised her hand, glancing around the improv circle. A dozen of her energetic peers looked back at her, expectantly, while giggling and fussing among themselves on the Hampton Bays Middle School stage.

“This is my first day,” the 5-year-old girl murmured shyly to acting instructor Selina Pasca. “I don’t know how to do this.”

Ms. Pasca—who, with Kristen Poulakis, in September co-founded East End Children’s Theatre Company, which teaches actors age 4 to 17—smiled encouragingly. “I have an idea,” she said. The teacher took three exaggerated steps toward the Madeline and whispered in her ear.

Now, with all of her students’ undivided attention, Ms. Pasca coached the young girl, “Crouch down.”

Madeline shrank into a ball, and then, ever so slowly, wiggled up and suddenly leaped in the air, pushing her arms over her head with a triumphant smile.

“Flower!” a 5-year-old boy, Marchello Messina, exclaimed, jumping up and down. “She’s a flower!”

It was hard to tell who was more pleased: Marchello for guessing correctly or Madeline for her successful acting debut. After their shining moment, it was the next student’s turn.

In March, this group of 4- to 6-year-old performers—who meet on Thursday evenings during the first-ever “Vaudeville Kids” class at the middle school—will perform an original play by Ms. Pasca for their parents at the Vail-Leavitt Music Hall in Riverhead, showing off what they’d learned over the previous eight weeks during their acting, singing and dancing workshops.

“We do this to give these kids a sense of self confidence, to get up on the stage and have their moment,” Ms. Poulakis explained during an interview at the Riverhead theater last week, sitting on the historic stage next to her partner. “And it does work wonders for them. It’s amazing. When they come here, they feel like they belong.”

Growing up in different corners of the Northeast, the two Hampton Bays women met by chance after forming two separate children’s theater companies on their own—Ms. Pasca’s in Hampton Bays, Ms. Poulakis’s in Riverhead.

They had the same vision—ensnare future actors when they’re young, get them comfortable on stage with improv and then fine-tune their skills as they age—in part because they did not have this experience as children themselves. It was only natural for them to team up.

Ms. Poulakis entered theater through the beauty pageant world in Massachusetts and Ms. Pasca, a Southampton native, attended workshops on the East End. When she auditioned for Emerson College, she said she had to figure it out on her own.

“We’re giving these kids an edge,” Ms. Pasca said. “By the time they’re 16, they know us, they’re comfortable—or they’re just coming in for the first time—and we’re giving them professional scene study, professional vocal technique and professional dance technique.”

The classes are broken down by age, not skill, the instructors explained. Next in line after “Vaudeville Kids”—the youngest group that meets for an hour a week for eight weeks and costs $200—is “Hairy Potter,” an eight-week program that costs $350 and is for ages 7 to 10 that will culminate with a production of the same name on the Riverhead stage in March for parents. It meets for 90 minutes once a week.

One of the “Hairy Potter” students, 10-year-old Lily Kutner, now aspires to be a professional singer when she’s older, she said during an interview at the theater.

“This is a really great class,” she said. “And the teachers are really, really nice. I started theater when I was 6. I love that you get to be on stage and perform in front of people and show people what you are like. I love that I can show my feelings through singing.”

“She’s saying the exact opposite of what we actually do,” Ms. Pasca said, eliciting a giggle from Lily.

If she continues with the program next year, Lily will enroll in “Techniques,” a 13-week training series open to students age 11 to 17 that costs $700.

This year, the “Techniques” students will practice three hours a week while participating in voice, dance and acting workshops. Afterward, they will stage “Fame, Jr.” in March at Vail-Leavitt.

“But it all starts in the beginning with improv,” Ms. Pasca said. “What they learn is how to perform off the cuff, how to make people laugh, because, really, that’s what it’s about. You can be the most serious at anything, but if you can’t connect, you have nothing. The easiest way to connect is to make people laugh.”

“We are the dynamic duo,” Ms. Poulakis agreed.

“The truth is, she’s a beauty queen. I’m a clown,” Ms. Pasca said. “To cut to the chase, I love to joke around with the kids. She’s a dancer and singer.”

“She’s hysterical,” Ms. Poulakis agreed.

“I’m really into making people laugh,” Ms. Pasca said. “I absolutely take down every kind of guard there could be.”

On Thursday night in Hampton Bays, once the children were done with the improv circle, they warmed up their vocal chords with exercises led by Ms. Poulakis, followed by a simple dance routine. Then, they settled down into a circle. Their eyes widened as Ms. Pasca unloaded her floral prop bag chock full with hats, accessories and more.

The actors broke up into four groups. Ms. Poulakis and Ms. Pasca instructed them to come up with their own stories to act out in front of their peers. Madeline fussed with the sparkley witch hat on her blonde head, unsure of what to do next.

“That’s the whole great thing of making up a scene,” Ms. Poulakis said to the group of girls. “You can pretend anything.”

And less than five minutes later, Madeline and her three new friends were prancing across the stage, getting ready to undertake an imaginary adventure.

For more information, visit eectc.net.