ABOUT US
CALEDONIA KIDS THEATRE
Caledonia Kids Theatre began in 2007 with a grant from the Caledonia Education Foundation. Our success has been amazing with productions of over 100 students every season. While putting on a complete musical, we help our 2nd through 6th grade students gain confidence, stage presence and grow friendships.
CALEDONIA MIDDLE SCHOOL PLAYERS
Caledonia Middle School Players is a program offered to our 7th and 8th grade students. The program helps students get to know each other and grow lasting friendships while learning amazing performing skills. Putting on a full musical, the students learn teamwork, anticipate others needs, and grow the confidence that helps them for years
UPCOMING SHOWS
Caledonia Kids Theatre will be performing Moana Jr. in January of 2023 and Caledonia Middle School Players will be performing High School Musical 2 Jr. in April 2023.
Duncan Lake Middle School Performing Arts Center
CKT - PARENT MEETING NOTES
REGISTRATIONS FOR MOANA JR. ARE NOW CLOSED
Theatre builds community/friendships/confidence/skills used for future success/Goal is to have fun and put on a great show. All students did an amazing job with auditions. So much talent in this community - they made the casting process difficult.
Expectations
There is Only one lead. We have received compliments on how well we cast our performers for years. Regardless of who you are, your role, you will have fun. But it is hard work. With that, everyone is equally important to the success of this production -whether you are in the chorus or a lead. We think it is a great experience for all kids so this is why we do not cut at this age. All students who register are in the show. The musical would not be the musical without a chorus nor would it be without leads. In theatre we treat everyone fairly and with respect. If we hear a cast member belittling another or bragging, it will be addressed immediately and if it continues you will be removed from theatre. There are plenty of people in the chorus who would gladly step into a speaking role. Our motto is “Save the drama for theatre”. Our drama is only on the stage
We expect students to attend their called practices. A revised calendar may be coming home with a detailed breakdown of chorus rehearsals. Primary leads will attend all practices. We will not tolerate students leaving practices without permission and if a student is caught leaving rehearsal or sneaking out, it will be considered a first offense and after 3 offenses you will be removed from our theatre program. If you plan to be absent for illness or any other reason, it is the students responsibility to email the producer. While we do our best to stick to our calendar, occasionally changes may need to be made and dates and time might be changed. We will do our best to give enough notice in case of the change.
For the first few weeks we will focus on music! The music will be emailed to you through Dropbox. Please start listening to your songs immediately and daily! Each cast member will also receive a script. The script should come to every practice every week. In the event you misplace your script, it will cost you $10 to get a new one.
Those of you with lines will rehearse and memorize most of your lines at home. We will be “off book” by January 3, 2023.
After the first couple weeks, we will introduce choreography and blocking. And then things start coming together!
If your child decides that theatre is not really his or her thing, you can receive a refund until 2 weeks after our first run through (10/21/2022). After that, no participation fees will be refunded.
Each cast member is required to sign and return the cast contract. It can be found on our website, www.caledoniayouththeatre.org. In addition to the contract, we follow the expectations and policies of Caledonia Community Schools. Being in theatre is a privilege and secondary to your education. We expect you to maintain passing grades in your classes and have acceptable attendance. Theatre would not be theatre if we did not follow directions.
You will receive a costume letter in the next few weeks. Each student is responsible to provide portions of their own costume. We do not expect you to spend a fortune or hours on end creating a costume. Goodwill and Salvation Army “like” stores are perfect resources to find costume supplies. If you are unable to provide what is asked of you in the letter, please contact us immediately so we can help.
Emails will be sent home weekly to the email address you provided on the registration form. If you do not receive an email next week, please come in and see us after rehearsal so we can get the correct email on the list. If you have more than one email to help us communicate with your family, please see Amy after the meeting so we can add it to the list. Please be patient as we have well over 100 emails to manually input into the computer. The calendar, music links, contract will be emailed weekly as a reminder as well. If you have a concern you would like addressed, please contact one of our theatre staff directly. Do not contact your child's teacher, principal or a school administrator before you talk to our team. Our program is run through the Resource Center and is not necessarily considered a “school” program and is certainly not on the top of their priority list.
It takes a lot of manpower to make this production a success. Please volunteer. There are several areas where you can help and with 115 students, we should have plenty of volunteers. We are also looking for some Coordinators for certain areas. I understand everyone is busy, but your help is necessary.
We will have 2 scenery days on Saturday January 8 and 15. Helping build our set is fun. If you are strong and have power tools, we would really love you there. If you can paint and create, we would love you there. If you aren’t handy at all, we would love you there! Amy will send out a sign up genius in the next few weeks.
Finally, we are usually flexible with our cast when it comes to other activities. We all believe it is important to have well rounded kids and we know how much fun these kids have when they perform. Not many other activities are usually on Friday’s so we continue to have theatre on Fridays after school. If your child is in a Fall/Winter activity, we will be flexible if your student talks to his or her coach/instructor and agrees to a plan to be at the theatre and to be at their activity. Whether you leave early or come late. We will be flexible to work things out. Until January 3.
All practices From January 3 on are mandatory for all cast members. No exceptions. There are several elements that go into the final preparation of a show between lighting, microphones, props, costumes and changes in blocking due to scenery. Please do not have your child practice for the next 12 weeks and have to pull him or her from the musical because of a baseball practice conflict the week of the show. Please double check the calendar and the additional practice dates on the calendar before you fully commit to this production.
We thank you for sharing your talented, spirited, happy children with us. We look forward to watching them grow friendships, confidence and skills that will carry them through adulthood!
