Page 40 - The Peorian Vol 3 Issue 1 Winter

40 thePeorian.com
At Limestone, Binder tries to
involve as many students at the
school as he can. He has been
known to reach out beyond the
theater and choir students, often
into athletics, to find performers
for his shows. He did that with
“Tarzan” when he cast an athlete
with no prior theatre experience,
Trevon Cooper from Peoria High
School, in the role of Tarzan. “I
think I found a gem that might
otherwise have stayed hidden,”
he said.
Now, young Cooper has
learned to express himself in
front of crowds without fear of
being himself. “Learning to be
comfortable just being themselves
and expressing themselves will
help them long after they do
youth theatre. Those are things
they need in adulthood, so obvi-
ously the earlier you can get them
started the better,” Binder said.
Nobody would agree with
that more than Jenny Burnett
Parkhurst. She started the Corn
Stock for Kids program at Corn
Stock Theatre in 1997. Today that
program thrives with multiple
shows each year and workshops
and summer camps — all geared
to nurture a love for theatre and
to train these children to become
future performers and patrons of
the arts, Parkhurst said.
Her first workshop was in
January 1997 and despite it being
a cold, miserable day 47 kids
showed up, enthusiastic and
ready to learn. “I knew then, that
first day, this was going to be
something special,” she said.
Among the students at that
initial workshop were youth
now being seen on stage in adult
productions or directing shows;
young adults such as Chip Joyce,
Nyk Sutter, Melissa Grimson
and the Beever twins, Dean and
Dustin.
“When kids participate in
something like theatre, it im-
proves or teaches so many skills
they will be able to use as adults.
Skills like team building, being
better listeners and present-
ers. Learning proper etiquette,”
she said. “Those were things I
learned as a child doing CCT
shows. Doing children’s theatre
had a tremendous impact on me
and I wanted to start Corn Stock
for Kids because I wanted to
invest in the future of the theatre
The Future
During the Corn Stock for Kids Summer Camp, adults teach the children
various aspects of theatrical performing, including how to choreograph fight
scenes so that nobody gets injured.
Ellie Urish, left, and Seth Hannan during a scene from “Tarzan,”
which was presented by Youthlight Theatre in September.