CA.S.T.ing a Light on Talent :: Drama Journalism Acting Essays

CA.S.T.ing a Light on TalentAs break away auditions got under way in Hillsboro, NH, the leador asked Chelsy Starkweather,13, the first and youngest of the nights auditions, to repeat her monologue, twice. At first, she hid behind a baseball cap and sat on a chair, something most play bespeakors would forbid. But Justin Scarelli, 22, who founded Community Arts as a Stage for Teens (C.A.S.T.), knew how to draw out Starkweathers confidence. She repeated her monologue, standing and iodin last time without her baseball cap. afterward her very last line on her third performance, Scarelli and Chelsys peers broke out in applause. The smile on Starkweathers face proved that, at C.A.S.T., something special is happening. This is a great way to let kids pick up a chance to act and learn to direct because school drama programs can be limiting, Tom Ellsworth, 17, the student Chair of C.A.S.T. said.That something special was what Scarelli had in mind in the summer of 2004 after he helped dire ct a documentary about media literacy for Project Genesis, a nonprofit teen center and in Hillsboro. After spending the summer with the teens, he saw their creative thinking grow he also noted that their desire to learn more about directing and the arts grew as the weeks went on. By the time the documentary was finished, Scarelli communicate with Deborah Whitaker-Duncklee, a youth counselor who runs Project Genesis, about the possibility of extending the summer media project throughout the year. During the summer everyone got to see creativity as something tangible, Scarelli said. We wanted to give what we were doing into school drama programs.Scarelli and Whitaker-Duncklee found that schools were not receptive to their ideas, so they decided to start a program through Project Genesis. The only problem was money. After speaking with Peter Brigham, the director of youth services in Hillsboro, Scarelli put together a proposal for his program and began to search for funding. I didnt have any creative guidance so I wanted to be able to give that to the kids, Scarelli said. But its very hard to get financial support.As of December 4, 2004, Brighams budget for youth services in 2005 is $60,000 with counseling services, or $40,000 without. That money is distributed throughout Hillsboro and nearby Deering, NH, for all youth-oriented programs and is used up sooner quickly. While the budget does not assign a specific amount of money to each service provided, this budget ultimately needs outside assistance.