Garland County teens will get into the Halloween spirit on stage later this month when the Pocket Community Theatre’s Pocket Teens perform “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” Oct. 25, 26 and 27.

Based on the Washington Irving short story, the play revolves around Ichabod Crane (Hayden Woods) and Brom Bones (Alejandro Villa) competing for the affection of Katrina Van Tassel (Natalie Shunk) as the Headless Horseman (Schuyler Seanos) haunts the area.

James Kendall, president of the theater’s board of directors, said “Sleepy Hollow” is the largest play the teens have produced, both in terms of cast size and production value. Noting the production has a “grander scale,” Kendall said the play has the “full support as far as budget … treating it like a major production.”

Kendall said previous youth shows were more about getting the youth into theater than actually staging an actual production. He described those shows as having minimalist sets and costumes.

“On this show, (we have) full backing to get what we need to make this as good as a main stage production,” he said.

The theater’s teen program started three years ago, but they have done a youth program for years. Kendall said what made them decide to expand the youth program was the reaction to last year’s youth play, “Annie.”

“The success of ‘Annie’ last year showed us that there’s a lot of kids” interested in theater, Kendall said. He said around 30 youths auditioned for the production. “Made us kind of look at the shows we are doing,” he said.

The theater does six main stage shows a year, but the goal moving forward is to start having youth and teen shows occur between those six main shows, he said.

The “Sleepy Hollow” show has so far been a success, Kendall said. Over 40 youths auditioned for the play, with 28 cast.

The show is being directed by Steve Mitchell who was offered the job by Kendall.

“I took it on, and it’s going to be a great show,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said such plays are good for the teens who participate because it teaches them skills such as discipline, focusing and listening.

“For some, that’s a great challenge,” he said.

Kendall agreed the plays are good for the teens, noting they are learning how to speak in public and be in front of an audience. The youths will “carry that into adulthood,” he said.

The plays also help with confidence. Mitchell said the play features a couple of songs that are sung by three of the characters and he is helping the performers build up the confidence to sing.

“They’re afraid to sing,” he said, noting each of them is good at singing, but hesitate when they have to sing in front of their peers. “I have to coax them into it.”

Mitchell said part of his job as director is to teach the newcomers how to act. “I love it, I’m a teacher by trade,” he said.

The process of seeing these nervous teens turn into experienced actors, both Kendall and Mitchell said, is a rewarding experience. Kendall said that in the past, he has had many parents and grandparents come up to him after a youth play and tell him about how much the experience changed their children for the better.

Mitchell said “Sleepy Hollow” is set over a hundred years ago, so the characters speak differently than how people speak today. This has given the cast some trouble, he said, but seeing the cast overcome this obstacle is rewarding.

“I’ve got an actor, 10 or 11 years old, he learned his long monologue before everybody. It’s great. I’ve watched him from barely able to read the script” to delivering the performance, Mitchell said.

Mitchell said the teens are excited about the performance because of how professional it will look. He said his sister-in-law, Joanne Mitchell, has made “incredible costumes” for the cast. Between the costumes and the set, Mitchell said the play will “set the bar so much higher.”

Kendall said the public can visit the Pocket Theatre’s Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/pocket.communitytheatre/, for future updates on the youth and teen programs.

The Friday and Saturday shows will start at 7 p.m., and the Sunday show starts at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 and Kendall said that the show is family friendly.

Local on 10/13/2019