About Town: Bellevue Youth Theatre Keeps the Spotlight on Kids

For James McClain, the play is not the thing. The kids are the driving force.

McClain is the bear of a man behind the . He’s big, a bit shaggy and comes with a deep voice that resonates with good humor and laughter. To him it doesn’t matter if he’s shooting baskets with kids or telling elementary school students to pretend they’re cows or pigs or sheep. He just wants to instill all children with confidence and self-esteem.

“Theater is how we drive it,” McClain said. “But our program is about kids. If your child wants to be a star, they should go to other theater programs.”

Bellevue Youth Theatre does make stars out of some children. And some stars bring their children to Bellevue Youth Theatre. Cynthia Geary, who was a lead actor on the popular television series “Northern Exposure,” enrolled her daughters in BYT activities earlier this year.

The nature of most productions is a story that revolves around a few central characters.

But it is the supporting cast where McClain feels the BY program makes a difference.

“We try to get as many kids as possible into our plays,” he said. “Typically that might mean 95 kids.”

For instance, the upcoming production of “Charlotte’s Web” includes the main characters of Charlotte, Wilbur and their friends but also a lot of cows, pigs and sheep. Herding them all on stage can be a challenge, just as it can be finding plays appropriate for the cast and audience – always G-rated.

When in doubt, McClain and his staff write the productions.

“When we did “A Christmas Carol,” I read all the books and then wrote the play for our cast,” he said.

That’s how BYT gets scripts for other shows – such as “Frankenstein,” (a popular fall offering) and “The Penguins Save Santa Claus” – from McClain and the other directors’ imaginations.

Fairy tales are also fair game for the group – albeit some fractured versions of the same. Those casts are usually smaller, only about 50 kids per show.

So what do the kids get out of these mass productions?

A wealth of experience and a lot of good training, McClain said. They learn how to be quiet backstage while they’re waiting their turn to go on. They learn self-discipline, their lines and how to get along with others. They learn how to speak in front of an audience. And they learn theater etiquette such as appropriate times to applaud.

The productions wouldn’t work without dedicated adult volunteers who help with costumes, makeup and crowd control backstage.

McClain wasn’t originally hired to be a theater director. He came to the Northwest in 1988 from Texas. He worked as athletic director at a boys and girls club, another non-profit as leader of their youth job corps program and eventually was hired to help at Crossroads Community Center. He built a strong arts component and organized a few youth theater productions. The parks department folks liked the theater part so much they encouraged him to take the program citywide.

A funny thing happened on the way to a citywide forum – more and more kids got involved. More and more parents were impressed. The program started receiving awards.

“It just kind of exploded,” McClain said. “Now we’re doing 10 shows a year.”

The theater’s current home is in the old Ivanhoe School on Northup. Two portable buildings and a third building are crammed with costumes, props and classroom space. The main theater – the old school gym – is also bursting at the seams. The building was renovated in 2004 but still isn’t large enough.

The Parks Department plans to build at new theater near Crossroads Community Center in the next few years. (As a member of the Bellevue Parks board, I have seen the proposed plans and it will be an amazing building. It will be ‘green’ meaning environmentally friendly with an option for an outdoor performance space.”

Like most city projects these days, finances are tight. But BYT has a great subplot going. In 2002 enthusiastic parents, who saw the theater group struggling for money, created a Foundation to support the group. The Foundation is helping raise money to make the dream a reality quicker.

Meanwhile most productions are still staged in the Ivanhoe complex. A couple each year make big-time – Bellevue’s Meydenbauer Center. “Charlotte’s Web” opens there Aug. 12.

And the teenagers in the program – you have to be 13 or older to participate in this segment – are offering Shakespeare in the Park beginning Aug. 15. The play is “As You Like It.”

For McClain’s part, he likes it all as long as it helps kids.

“We’re not a dram program,” he said. “We’re serving the kids by offering a drama program. There’s a difference. One is about the play. Ours is about the kids.”

If you go

1661 Northup Way

Bellevue

www.Bellevuewa.gov/BYT

“Charlotte’s Web”

Meydenbauer Theatre (in )

11100 NE 6th Street

Bellevue

7 p.m. Aug. 12, 2 and 7 p.m. Aug. 13 and 2 p.m. Aug. 14

Tickets $10

Call Bellevue Youth Theatre Box Office at 425-452-7155 for more information.

Email: BYT@bellevuewa.gov

Shakespeare in the Park: “As You Like It”

Free at area parks. Bring blankets or beach chairs (low chairs). Play will last one hour.

Noon Aug. 15 at in the amphitheater

Noon Aug. 16 at

6:30 p.m. at

Noon at in the International Plaza

Noon at in the lawn area

6 p.m. Aug. 20 at