SOMETIMES IT’S OUR EARLIEST INFLUENCES that determine the course we’ll take in this life. Take Janelle Headley, whose exposure to musical theatre has spurred a lifelong passion.
“I have always liked musical theatre. I grew up watching Sound Of Music every evening after school and I wanted to write musicals and so on,” said Janelle. “Then I thought, ‘Who is my cast going to be made up of, and how many people on the island know how to do it?’ Then that sparked the idea of doing a developmental programme. Plus I’ve been doing vocal training for about seven years now, and I realized that being a triple threat is important to making it in this industry.”
What, you may ask, is a triple threat? Someone who can sing, dance and act.
“They may not be stellar at all three, but they may be competent to such a level that they can get jobs,” Janelle said. “Specifically, it came from the music theatre world, where you are required to do these things even if you’re just part of the chorus line. “
Thus the idea came to Janelle of having children exposed to and doing all three as part of a musical theatre summer boot camp she’s dubbed Operation Triple Threat.
“I think it gives kid a better chance if they want to go into the international theatre industry,” she said.
While Janelle admits that some of the private schools put on pantomimes and their own productions, she says the cast isn’t required to do all three.
“There are tons of summer camps, but none that require you to do all three,” she said.
After a successful first year in 2011, Janelle is looking to continue the trend in this year’s summer camp.
“The first year was rough financially. It’s new and few people caught on to the concept,” she said. “It is an expensive venture because at the end we require that the kids put on a full-scale production. But we did make it through with a lot of blood, sweat and tears. We only had 25 students signing up and I was a bit worried about that, but at the same time it’s actually helped me fine-tune the vision for the programme.”
Janelle says she intends to keep the programme small so that personnel can give kids individual attention. In fact, the reaction of the children to the programme was what inspired Janelle to continue.
“The kids loved it,” she said. “We could see tangible results in terms of their confidence by the seven weeks, and their parents were wondering how we managed to get this out of their kids in seven weeks. Some parents said even though it was the summer, they found their kids were more focused.
“From the very beginning we said, ‘We’re not treating you like kids; we’re expecting you to be responsible and manage your time’. For some kids it was a struggle, but at the end they recognized why we pushed them so hard.”
Janelle sees the programme as not only about introducing the children to theatre as an art form but about equipping them with the tools to see it as a possible career choice. The seven-week intensive programme is geared for kids ages 11 to 18, where they gain experience in classes in the disciplines of singing, dancing and acting.
Students also get to learn costume and set design, make-up for theatre, therapeutic art sessions, as well as performance-related theatre and community service.
For Janelle this truly is a labour of love, because she harboured her own love and aspirations for the art form.
“I mainly did singing and was in a few productions at my church, but I never found an opportunity to do this,” Janelle said. “Part of me wants to give these kids an opportunity that I never had. Now the adults are upset because they want me to create a programme like that for them.”
But for now the kids will be the beneficiaries of Operation Triple Threat.
“If you have a child who is really creative and you’re trying to find an outlet for that child, perhaps this is something to consider,” she said. “We’re holding auditions on April 1. I’ve been sticking to this because if you want to get anywhere in the international world you have to audition.”
Janelle is also hoping to attract more boys to the programme this year because she feels it can only be an asset to them.
The boot camp has even revived some of her personal desires and ambitions.
She said: “Having done this programme, it’s inspired me to start writing music again, and that’s something I hadn’t done in a while.”
