(upbeat music) - Hello, everyone.
Don't you love all of the fun shows here on Rise and Shine?
Did you know that shows like "Odd Squad" and "Blueberry's Clubhouse", they're put together by theater artists?
You can go to places like the Royal Theatre in Benton and see these stories live.
Check out this spotlight on all the hard work it takes to make this special kind of storytelling come to life.
- Hi, kids, my name's Matthew and we are here at the Royal Theatre in downtown Benton.
Today we're going to talk all about theater.
We're going to learn the ins and outs of lighting, set design, costumes, acting, and much more.
Can I get some houselights, please?
(cheerful music) This is our stage, and this is where the magic happens.
Come on, let me show you.
The theater is a magical place where we bring all kinds of stories to life.
Have you guys ever been to the theater?
No, I'm not talking about a movie theater.
I'm talking about a live theater, with actual actors acting out a script and singing and dancing and performing right before your eyes.
That's the kind of theater we're going to talk about today.
And it all starts with a script from a playwright.
So a playwright is somebody who takes an idea that's in their head, and they write it down.
They take that idea, and they turn it into the show that you see right before your eyes.
They make up a story for the actors to perform.
That's what actors do.
The actors work with the directors to tell them what to do and where to go at certain times on the stage.
Do you guys know what a director is?
Well, the director is like a coach of a sports team.
He may not be on the field, but he's definitely behind the scenes.
Speaking of behind the scenes, on stage, you see the actors, but there's so much more that happens behind the scenes.
First of all, the actors need somewhere to act on.
So that's where the set designers come into play.
Set designers will usually create the world around the actors to where they're going to act inside of.
Set design is one of my favorite things to do.
Currently, our theater is in the middle of "Beauty and the Beast", and I got to design the set for it, so I got to come up with the ideas of what colors we use and how the set's going to look for the actors.
Another thing that works hand in hand with set design is light design.
And in the theater, we use a lot of lights to change colors or change silhouettes to where you can make it the mood that you want it to be.
Different colors convey different moods on the stage.
Can you think of a way of how color changes the mood?
Maybe blue could be sad.
(somber music) Or red can be angry.
(dramatic music) Or yellow can be happy.
(cheerful music) There you go, you got it.
One of the biggest parts of theater are the actors that are on stage.
Actors bring the play to life from page to stage.
Actors are basically playing pretend in a pretend world that's created by the playwright.
Actors essentially move around the space of how their character would be.
Have you ever played a character before?
An actor can have one personality but play a completely different character on the stage.
They transform into the role.
They wear costumes and put on makeup, and all of that comes together to create the character that they are playing.
They sometimes may sing or dance.
The lead actor is the main character of the play.
So if you're going to be the lead actor of the show, you've got to be really good.
Actors memorize lines and actions and lyrics to the songs of the show.
And sometimes they even have to memorize where things go on the stage.
It takes a lot of preparation to be an actor.
A rehearsal is the preparation of a play where the actors get to practice their roles, where the actors go line by line and put the play together.
They do this a lot because when you're memorizing a big script, they have to practice those lines over and over again.
So usually you rehearse for a good month before the show opens.
And in that month, you have your rehearsals where you learn your lines and your stage directions.
And then you have your dress rehearsals where the costumes and the makeup come together.
This is me and my buddy Denver.
We're rehearsing for "Beauty and the Beast".
We've rehearsed at least five times a week just for this piece.
When you see a show, even though you may see the show one time, the actors perform the show over and over again to make sure that it's right just for you.
There's all different kinds of acting.
One of my favorite is pantomime, where you act without words or objects.
This is what mimes do.
Do you think that you could be a mine?
So you may be climbing a rope, or drinking a cup of tea, or maybe you're trapped inside of a box.
Help!
(fanfare blares) (audience applauds) Bravo!
Well, kids, I really enjoyed talking with you about theater today.
Maybe one day I'll see some of you up on that stage.
Bye for now.
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