[MUSIC] [MUSIC] Hi, and welcome to Inside Louisville, where we introduce you to the people, places and things that make up Kentucky's largest city.

This week, we take you behind the curtain of two legacy theater organizations.

For more than half a century.

Walden theater and stage one have been inspiring the next generation of artists and leaders in our community.

When faced with challenging times during Covid, these two programs announced a strategic merger in 2024, becoming one of the most comprehensive youth theater organizations in the country.

Christie Dutton gives us a closer look at their history and the impact.

>> Fair UofL on.

Is where you belong.

>> The story of children's theater in Louisville is a tale of two theaters.

>> That also Danny.

Go ahead and back that up.

You did perfect.

>> One began in 1946 when women from the community came together to create the Louisville Children's Theater, now known as stage one.

The goal was simple inspire children through live theater.

Stage one teaching artist Lashandra Hood believes the theater's impact deserves a standing ovation.

>> They've been around for 80 years.

That is amazing.

Just to think about the history and how many lives they would have touched with the work that they're continuing to do.

>> Lives like Diane Sawyer, who played the title character in The Snow Queen in 1957, to all the young actors cast in the long standing holiday tradition of the much loved play.

Best Christmas pageant ever.

As stage one grew into one of the country's leading theaters for young audiences, another theater was taking shape across town.

In 1975.

Actor and educator Nancy Niles Sexton was asked to teach drama at the newly opened Walden School.

She agreed under one condition.

>> She wanted to open a conservatory style training program for any student in Jefferson County.

And so he said, that'd be fine.

You can use the cabin that's at the very edge of this property.

>> That little cabin began the beginning of a 50 year legacy in 1997, Walden found a permanent home in this three story school building on Payne Street.

The conservatory became known for intensive instruction.

>> It was training in voice movement, dance, ballet and stage combat, and improvization, which we still do today.

>> Teaching artists.

Sophia Hyde is a Walden Conservatory student turned teacher who knows the lessons last long after the curtain closes.

>> I think it teaches you to see the world through other people's eyes.

>> Which allows her to inspire young actors who like her at that age, may have had a little stage fright.

>> I definitely see my my little self in there.

Like any quiet girl, I'm like, that does not mean that you're not an actor in your heart in there.

>> From camera shy to scene stealer.

Walden Conservatory has helped shape artists who've earned national recognition, like Academy Award winning Jennifer Lawrence and Jennifer Carpenter, most recognized for her role in the TV series Dexter.

But like so many arts organizations, both theaters face challenges, especially during Covid.

>> The situation became really precarious for us, so that's when we began talking with stage one.

>> In a strategic plot twist, the two theaters merged in 2024 as stage one in Walden.

Grow and evolve together.

The hope is that some things remain the same.

>> I hope that they will continue to do the work that inspires young people to be their creative selves, to be their expressive selves.

I think in a world where technology continues to take over, there's something about live theater that I hope that we never forget.

>> And now the Tale of Two theaters has become a single story, one with a new generation ready for the spotlight.

For inside Louisville, I'm Christie Dutton.

[MUSIC] >> You need protection.

>> Well, we are excited to welcome Andrew Harris, who is the producing artistic director of stage one Family Theater and Jimica Howard, who is a board member and also principal at JCPS.

So thank you all so much for being here to talk about these important milestones for these two legacy youth theater organizations.

So, Andrew, I'll start with you.

To tell us about stage one family theater celebrating 80 years and Walden 50 years.

That's right.

This is really incredible.

>> You know, it's it's great.

We talk about it, you know, it's like 50, AT 130.

So, you know, we have 50 years of the world class Walden conservatory.

We have, you know, 80 years with stage one for a combined 130 years of high quality artistic service to the children and families of our community.

And what a powerful legacy that is and something that is so exciting and something that we're really looking forward to.

>> Yeah.

So let's go back to the beginning and give us kind of the origin story here of stage one.

Back in 1946.

>> 46.

That's right.

So stage one was actually started at the Woman's Club.

So two of the members there got together and decided that they needed to have theater for young people.

And so they created what was then known as the Louisville Children's Theater.

And at the time, the primary focus of that was students performing.

So, you know, for the next almost, you know, 25 years, that's what they did.

So a lot of performances with young people performing.

And then it was in the late 70s that they brought in stage ones.

Long time artistic director Doctor Moses Goldberg, who he was instrumental in changing the name from the Louisville Children's Theater to stage one.

And the name stage one, because it was really focused on, you know, theater as one of the first stages of development for young people.

And so they shifted from the Louisville Children's Theater to stage one, the Louisville Children's Theater.

And at that time, there was a shift in focus to not just having young people perform, but really moving to become a professional theater for young audiences.

So professional actors performing both for and alongside the young people, which was tremendous.

And then we operated as stage one, the Louisville Children's Theater until the, you know, mid 2000.

And we shifted the name then to stage one family theater.

And the focus of that was really about the fact that we serve more than just the children.

You know, we, we a lot of people associate us with only the young people.

But our work is so much broader than that.

We work, you know, obviously, for the families of those children, but also for educators, you know, the school system, working with not only, you know, seasoned professional artists, but also being a place where young artists can come and develop their talent as they're moving into a career in the arts.

And so really, family theater felt like a better name that was more representative of who we'd become at that point.

And so we've been stage one family theater since then.

And then we had the great opportunity a couple of years ago to combine with what was then the Commonwealth Theater Center, formerly Walden Theater, and combined the two legacies of the organization.

Those two organizations together, which made so much sense in terms of how we were able to combine the work that we did, and really broaden our ability to impact young people from the earliest ages, all the way up through, you know, early career professionals.

>> Yeah, I want to get more into the details of that merger, but I want to talk to Doctor Howard, too, as an educator and, and seeing how tell me more about the partnership with stage one and JCPS.

>> Oh, absolutely.

Andrew and I met each other.

Oh my goodness.

It was before the pandemic and I was actually an assistant principal at a different school than the school where I'm the principal now.

And we had the opportunity to do something called On ramp for deeper learning.

And it was a program that integrated the arts into the school.

And I jumped on it as a as a child, I loved theater.

I, I sing, I act, I dance, I told my mother, I want to be a Broadway actor.

And she said, you need to eat every day.

And she said, no starving artist in my house.

And so I actually was blessed with the opportunity to do some of my student teaching in a Waldorf environment.

And so as a teacher, I, when I taught, I sang, we moved, we, we danced, and I noticed how, how much it impacted those students.

And again, that was 23 years ago now.

Right.

But in being in a leadership position, having the opportunity to look at those theater standards and then look at the reading and math standards and say, hey, if we combine these standards, if we integrate these standards, we have students engaged in things that get them excited and they are learning and they don't even know it brings it.

Not only does it bring their anxiety down about learning new things, but it also is inherently it sits in those standards.

For example, if you are.

If you are learning how a character grows across a story, what better way than to become that character and think through those emotions and model those emotions.

And in student writing, I tell students, you know, there's somebody really want to read.

I was sad in a story.

No, but what are you look like when you're sad?

Well, your mouth goes down and your eyebrows go down and it really gives them a depth of understanding in in the characters in fiction.

It also helps them reach nonfiction in ways that a lot of students do not initially go.

That's really interesting.

But you make a song about the water cycle and they're singing it and moving, and they don't even realize that they're learning something.

And so having an opportunity to mix the engagement of the arts and those standards with the integrated standards for math and reading, it really puts students in a place where they can grow their academic efficacy, and they can learn to be confident and they can internalize the information that they'll need to be great people and world changers.

>> Yeah.

It is.

I mean, as a fellow theater kid myself, I, it does develop some lifelong skills.

Like you said, confidence, empathy, all of these things.

And, and that, frankly, a lot of this generation is just inherently kind of lacking.

Is that like one on one.

>> And, you know, that's one of the things that's so great about, you know, teaching both in and through theater is, you know, a lot of people are like, oh, so you're trying to turn out the next, you know, Jennifer Lawrence or Tom cruise or I'm like, well, I mean, if they do that, great, that's awesome.

But no, we're not trying to turn out the next generation of actors and actresses.

What we're doing is we're turning out the next generation of human beings, because those theater skills are life skills.

Exactly.

Like you said, all of the things that you have to do to be successful in theater are the exact same things.

You need to be successful in life, and to be able to teach that to young people and give them that skill to move through life, whether they're going to be a performer or a musician, a dancer, a doctor, a lawyer, a TV host, you know, all of these things, you know, are skills that are going to carry with them for the rest of their lives.

>> Yeah.

And in fact, Walden in stage one have been a national model for education.

So tell me more about that.

>> Well, you know, the Walden Conservatory program, you know, has been going again, 50 years doing in-depth conservatory training, kind of classical theater training for young people, you know, starting at the very young all the way up through, you know, seniors and high school and even going on into supporting them as they move into a college environment.

And George Mason University kind of heard about the assessment model that we use because all of the students get an assessment, a detailed assessment about where they are tracking their growth as a, as a young artist and giving them recommendations on the next steps as they move through the conservatory process.

And George Mason University was like, this is pretty innovative because not not a lot of people do the in-depth level of assessment that you're doing of these students.

And so they did a study of it back in 22.

And, you know, published a study about the efficacy of that.

Matter of fact, they just recently reached out to us because they want to update the study and they're like, hey, can can we look at new numbers?

Can we work with you again?

So we're working with them again to, to continue to look at that assessment model, because assessment is so important.

You know, you have to track growth of students, whether that's in a classroom environment.

But even in our own environment, you know, it's we don't just look at it like, well, that was fun.

You know, this was recreational and that was fun.

I mean, it is.

Yeah.

But there is depth to it and there's rigor to it and there's growth that is documented that we can share.

And again, it supports those young people on their own journey.

>> And what's even more amazing about that is the state of Kentucky has recently changed its assessment blueprint.

And one of the mandatory components is vibrant learning experiences.

And students being able to talk about how, as I matriculate through school, where did I begin?

What have I done to improve myself and increase my ability to step out into the world?

And so that ties right together with the core assessment principles of our of our home state, Kentucky.

>> Yeah.

And I think in recent years too, arts education has kind of gone by the wayside.

And so things like this, science, data based studies like this, why it's called, why theater education matters is the name of the study, right?

And how that can be a model for other schools, other programs.

Right?

Absolutely.

And I'm sure they're using those.

>> Absolutely.

And being able to give and receive feedback and grow as a result of that feedback is a critical skill for learning for any, anything.

And so being able to practice that in a conservatory or in a theater environment, you know, our school is a Disney musicals in schools, school.

And so if a child gets up and they sing a song and they say, how was it?

And their peers are giving exact feedback, they can go, okay, so the next time I need to step this way or do this, then you get into the classroom and they're learning to do a math algorithm, an algorithm, and the teacher says, hey, I see you following these steps, but check this step right here because there's something you missed.

They don't go, oh, they go, got it.

And they go back to it and they adjust it.

Yeah.

And they are, they're prepared to fail forward because something that is inescapable in theaters, people are looking at you.

Yeah.

And if you're able to try new things, when people are looking at you, take and receive feedback and adjust your performance based on that feedback.

That is a huge, huge level of skill.

And when you know that you're good at something and you can take feedback and intentionally work on it, you improve at it faster.

So students, not only are they growing at the typical pace, but they also it also accelerates their learning.

And when they are giving and receiving feedback to each other, their reciprocal teaching, the students are teaching each other and they are growing.

And it just it's such it's such an amazing thing to watch.

And once that once that fear of being what if I do it wrong?

Or what.

>> If I do it right?

>> Once that's gone.

>> Light bulb.

>> Light.

Bulb right.

And there's a pathway and it just, it can go just the places they go.

It's just amazing.

>> To see.

You know, it's funny, we talk about, you know, on the academic side, we say things like, you know, formative assessment, summative assessment.

And in theater we have those, we call them rehearsal and performance.

>> Right?

>> And we have performance assessment.

>> And, and, but when you think about it in those terms, suddenly, you know, especially for a young person or even a not so young person, sometimes it's a lot less scary.

Like I'm going to be formatively assessed.

I don't know what that means, but I feel like I should be nervous about it.

Absolutely.

No, it's just rehearsal.

We give you feedback, right?

>> It's feedback in this room.

>> It's like, hey, that was great.

Let's try something different.

>> They're.

>> Yes, perfect.

That's great.

It's not criticism, it's feedback.

>> Right.

Coming to this room, we're going to practice adding fractions.

They go in there and there's a drum and sticks.

Yeah.

And beat this beat and you move to this beat and you speak to this beat.

They don't even realize that they are adding fractions.

>> Yeah.

>> At the time they're like, that was fun.

We didn't learn anything today.

It's like, oh, but you did that.

>> You did?

Yeah.

Sneaking in the spinach right.

Is what they call it.

>> Right?

Exactly.

>> So I want to go back to the merger and talk a little bit more about how that came to be.

And it's because both of these programs during Covid were struggling.

>> Sure.

Well, I mean, you know, the pandemic was hard on everybody.

I mean, nationally, theater audiences decreased by, I think it was 52%.

And so, you know, that's a big impact on everybody.

And, you know, both both the Commonwealth Theater Center and Stage one had, you know, challenges coming out of that and waiting for, you know, the schools to start taking field trips again, people to feel comfortable coming back into spaces that took time.

And, you know, as a not for profit arts organization, you don't always have that time to wait.

Right.

And so, you know, it resulted into in challenges for both organizations.

You know, Commonwealth Theater Center in particular found itself in a pretty difficult fiscal, you know, financial situation.

And so, you know, they were looking at at how do we move forward?

Because they have played such a critical role in our community.

>> And I think people didn't know then it's hard to remember back when we didn't know it was when we're coming back.

Exactly, exactly, exactly.

>> And so, you know, we in stage one wasn't quite in the same position, but we were in that position where we're like, we're probably a couple of years away from being there.

If we don't make some changes.

And so stage one was already kind of looking at what are some strategic shifts we need to make as an organization.

And so, you know, we had an opportunity to say, hey, there's some we both have some issues here.

Let's have some conversation.

And one of the things that was, was made so much sense about it is the alignment in programing.

So it's not like we're trying to, you know, shove two pieces together that don't really fit.

I mean, both of us have a robust history of education programing, both in schools and on the public side of things.

Both of us have a rich history of performances.

Both of us are in service of kids and families.

And by looking at, you know, the opportunities to put everything together, suddenly what you're able to do is to build a continuum.

So you have a continuum of opportunities, both in terms of a broader scope to go into the schools and work with community partners, but also when you look at the growth of students now we have an opportunity for our young people to move through our conservatory, have opportunities there.

These are many students who are looking at going on to study this.

But now they also have opportunities to then come over and perform in professional shows with professional, you know, equity actors, equity union actors, and get an understanding of how that it builds this entire continuum from where we have opportunities for anybody to come in at any entry point and have a path for growth inside the organization.

And it just made so much sense.

And, you know, mergers are hard and they take time and they're like, you know, it'll be a couple of years before we really start to see the synergy and the benefits start to manifest.

And, and it really started clicking in this summer.

We just completed our summer programing.

And, you know, over the growth from last year to this year was, you know, astronomical.

I mean, we went from serving about 460, 470 kids to more like 625.

Wow.

I mean, so the growth in the synergy and bringing all of it together, and, you know, we're in the early stages of really seeing all of the hard work behind the scenes to link all the pieces together, really starting to blossom and grow.

And it's really exciting.

>> Yeah.

So yeah, what has been some of the differences, I guess you've seen or maybe even not seen since the merger, besides the growth?

>> Well, you know, one of the things that was really important to us when we looked at the merger.

So Commonwealth Theater Center was actually the result of a previous merger in 2015 between the Blue Apple players and Walden Theater.

So Walden had its conservatory program, and Blue Apple Players was known for taking its show performances out into the community.

And as we looked at the merger together between stage one and Commonwealth Theater Center, of the things that was important is, is we don't we're not this is not like hostile takeover.

This is this is merger.

This is strategic alignment.

And we don't want to lose the legacy of all of the things that make us who we are.

And one of the things that that we really talk about is when we kind of built the programing model as a merged organization, one of the things that was so great is, you know, those three organizations, Blue Apple, Walden Theater, stage one, you could choose a lens to look through.

Whatever your experience with either of those, any of those organizations was, you could look through that lens and go, oh, wait, you still have high quality professional shows that are touring into the schools.

Oh, oh wait, you still have all of the busses lining up in front of the Kentucky center with the field trips and those.

>> Those out here, shows.

>> We still have that.

Oh wait, we still have the conservatory going on.

But now all of these pieces are connected.

So one of the things that was so great about it is that, you know, it wasn't an abandonment of any aspect of what came together.

It was a refinement of those things and an alignment of those things.

So you could come at it from a lens and go, well, well, I mean, but I was always partial to Blue Apple.

Oh, wait, that's still I still see the legacy.

>> Of that.

Yeah.

>> Well, I was a Walden kid.

I still see the legacy of that.

Well, I grew up doing coming to stage one shows.

You still see the legacy of that.

So it wasn't about subtraction.

It was only a merger of addition.

And that's one of the things that made it so exciting is that we were able to refine and streamline, you know, and, you know, align business models and bring everything together to be able to do more in a more effective way.

And then once you get that done, then that creates the opportunity for growth.

>> Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

So tell me about what you see as the vision for what's next.

>> Well, you know, one of the things that we're really excited about early stages, but you know, when we look at our conservatory training, it again, world class classical theater training, but we're looking to expand that and to add, you know, almost tracks in that.

So we're maintaining that we're not taking away.

Again, it's always about addition, but we want to look at adding a musical theater track to that.

And we want to look at adding a technical theater track to that, because right now in our community and this is common in, you know, theaters all over the country is you have lots of places when it comes to training young people that do a niche thing.

We do this.

But then if you want this other thing, you can go over there.

And if you want this other thing, you can go over there.

What we don't have is one place where any student who wants to learn any aspect of theater has a home.

It's like, I only want to learn lights and costumes.

Yeah, great.

We're going to have a place for you, you know?

But I want to sing and dance.

I don't want to do Shakespeare.

Great.

We have a place for you, you know?

But I just want to do Shakespeare.

We also have a place for you.

And by the way, you're going to find out that actually you do want to do all of those things.

>> That's right.

>> You know, and it creates a more holistic, you know, experience for the young people.

And so we're looking at building and expanding.

You know, that piece on the conservatory side.

And then also continuing to build the alignment between that and, you know, the professional side of things, you know, in early stage conversations with our friends over at the Kentucky Center, you know, their theaters are high quality, professional spaces.

And, you know, I've had some early stage conversations with them about, hey, once we get this technical theater track up, are you open to letting our students come into this space, you know, under supervision of our professionals and work on these professional shows?

And, you know, they're like, this is really interesting to us as well.

So, you know, building these alignments where they're getting real world experience, they're not just getting training.

We're getting workforce development.

>> Right.

>> You know, because these are skills that for, for students that want to go on as a career in the arts, you know, they're going to be able to come out and say, no, I've already done these things.

You know, they're going to go to college and colleges are going to be, you know, like, we want your students.

Yeah.

Matter of fact, we take every year a group of our seniors from our conservatory on a trip to Chicago to the Chicago Unified auditions, which is where a lot of colleges all come to one place.

And you can audition for a bunch of colleges.

And we do that every year.

And there are several schools that are like, oh, this is a Walden student.

Yes, we want to see you.

We want to.

>> See carries a reputation.

>> And it really does.

Yeah.

So, you know, that's one of the things that we're really proud of and being able to, you know, build on that and expand that is super important.

>> You can watch and share this episode on demand online at ket.org slash Inside Louisville.

Plus, follow us on social media.

You can see more of those behind the scenes photos and some throwbacks to past productions.

You may remember.

You can find all that when you follow us on social media.

We're on Instagram at KETN Lou.

Thanks for spending a little time getting to know Louisville.

I hope we'll see you here next time.

Until then, make it a great week.