Want to be a star? JCC to launch theater program

Michelle Larson will lead the theater program The JCC Suncoast is looking for at least a dozen community members of all ages who are interested in helping develop a theater education program.

Participants will have the opportunity to learn about all aspects of the theater from the ground up — history to make-up, props to acting — and get hands-on experience producing a community show.

Along with practical knowledge, JCC Suncoast Executive Director Ellen Katzman said the JCC Suncoast Theatre Program will help instill performance ethics in its students; including how to prepare for rehearsals, how to take care of an individual’s space, and how to work in an ensemble.

“We’re pleased to have Michelle Larson, an accomplished theater veteran with extensive experience in all aspects of theater, with us to spearhead the new JCC Suncoast Theatre Program, which will be available through both the Clearwater and St. Petersburg centers,” she said.

Larson hails from St. Petersburg and graduated from Eckerd College before moving to Missouri. It was in Missouri that she worked as a high school theater director and founded a community theater company open to all and offering classes in the many aspects of theater. She has worked as a playwright and director, as well as helping create and facilitate multiple performance groups and theater companies in her area.

Larson has served as director for a community players theater, worked with an improv troupe and with Theatre Unlimited, a theater company dedicated to providing theater education and performance opportunities to adults with mental and physical disabilities. The JCC of St. Louis sponsored Theatre Unlimited.

For the JCC Suncoast program, Larson will be leading classes, as well as directing all of the upcoming productions. As the JCC Suncoast Theatre Program develops, Larson says she would also like to include both an improvisational theater component, as well as a program like Theatre Unlimited.

Plans call for the JCC Suncoast Theatre Program’s inaugural production to be “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” by Andrew Lloyd Webber, sometime in the late spring or early summer.

“I love working in the theater and have observed firsthand the power that a theatrical production can have to raise awareness, share a truth, and give people something to think about or a different way of understanding life,” Larson said. “It is important to me that the actors and technicians involved in the shows that I do have strong, positive experiences and see the importance of their role in all that we do.”

“I love the collaborative aspect of theater and enjoy helping actors create meaningful characters and working with technicians to bring all of the technical aspects of theater to life in a creative and interesting way. My philosophy as a director is simply that all of us involved in any piece of theater have an obligation to the author, the audience and the characters portrayed to give the best of ourselves to the work we are doing,” she said.

Those interested in the JCC Suncoast Theatre Program can call Katzman at (727) 736-1494.