Culver City News Article
The
following two-part article about dee-Lightful Productions was published in the
Culver City News on December 17 (Part 1) and December 24 (Part 2), 2009. It is reprinted here with permission
from the publisher.
Aguanno’s passion for theater finds youthful audience
All
the world may well be a stage as Shakespeare postulated in As
You Like It, but his description of
“... the whining school-boy, with his satchel/And shining morning face,
creeping like snail/Unwillingly to school” is a far cry from the youngsters
enthusiastically immersed in year-round musical theater workshops and camps
offered by dee-Lightful Productions.
The
organization, which is dedicated to quality musical experiences for children
ages seven to 17, was cited in the Best Family or Kids Attraction category of
the Best of Culver City 2009.
Dolores
Aguanno, who grew up on Long Island, N.Y., appears perfectly cast in her role
as dee-Lightful’s vibrant founder and artistic director. Her passion for
musical theater can be traced to her DNA, as her father was a professional
musician.
After
participating in every musical theater production that her hometown had to
offer, she took several theater and dance classes in college and then moved to
New York City, where she continued her training, studying voice privately,
attending dance -studios, including the schools of Alvin Ailey and Martha
Graham, and studying acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute with
Strasberg and many other teachers.
“I
was in the work/study program to help pay for my classes there,” she told the News, “and I became a teaching assistant for the Young
People’s Program and eventually taught classes to teens for about five years
while I was trying to further my own professional performing career. It was there that I discovered that I
had a natural gift for teaching acting to kids. Matt Dillon, of the film Crash, was one of my students for about two years.”
She
moved to Los Angeles in her late 20s to pursue her performing career and
“really fell in love with the art of acting and ended up teaching acting for
adults for about six years.
Simultaneously, another path brought me to teaching creative writing for
at-risk youth in probation camps. I also co-founded and directed a performing
arts summer camp for kids at my spiritual center in 1995. It was extremely successful but the
center wasn’t equipped at the time to support an -ongoing camp. That experience, however, planted the
seed for dee-Lightful’s musical theater summer camp, which began in 2002.”
But
back to the late 1990s when Aguanno, a single mother of two, was struggling to
keep it all together. Recognizing
that both of her daughters were musically gifted but unable to afford programs
that would help them develop their talents, inspiration struck.
“With my background and training I could
start my own program,” Aguanno said. “I loved working with children and it
seemed like a great idea for a wonderful new adventure for all of us.
“My
daughters were 12 and nine years old when I did my first production in 1999. I was very careful not to favor them
and always had them go through the same audition process as everyone else for
casting. The first show we did was
Annie and it was a huge
success. So many talented and curious kids came from Culver City, Santa Monica,
and Los Angeles. It astounded me
how many parents were willing to come out and help. We were at the hut at Lindberg Park, which we nicknamed The
Stonehouse, and the parents hung curtains to mask the backstage area and create
a theater space. Some aluminum can
lights, chairs, costumes and makeup and voila, we had a show!”
But
of course there had to be a glitch or two.
“The actor playing Oliver Warbucks had
to drop out three days before the show opened,” Aguanno said. “I had no one to
replace him so I became Olivia Warbucks, the richest woman in New York City in 1939. It was a lot of fun, but crazy. I went
onstage for every entrance with my ‘clipboard,’ which was really my script, and
when I wasn’t onstage, I was running sound cues!”
And
dee-Lightful Productions was off and running as well.
“It
has always been my deepest desire to have an all- inclusive environment where
all kids feel welcome and safe to shine their light,” Aguanno said. “I love
seeing the younger kids learning from the older, more experienced kids. It’s great to see the older kids move
on and excel wherever else they move on to.
“I
love seeing the shows at Culver City High School. The Academy of Visual and Performing Arts does such
wonderful work with the students at the high school and it’s so rewarding to
see our dee-Lightful alumni continuing to grow and shine.”
Aguanno
told of alumni returning to help with shows during the year and to be
counselors in dee-Lightful’s summer camp. She added that “many of our alumni
have continued with their training at the university level while others have
gone on to pursue other talents and interests.
“I
get just as excited when I hear that one of our timid 8-year-olds broke out of
her shell and aced her science presentation because of the confidence she
developed at dee-Lightful. Or kids
who were shy and didn’t have a lot of friends now have a bunch of dee-Lightful
friends all over the Los Angeles area.
It’s become an incredible community. And the parents have been so supportive, volunteering in any
and every way possible.”
Aguanno
praised the Culver City Department of Recreation and Parks for its assistance
in advertising the program in the Culver City Living Guide, handling the
registration in its office and providing rehearsal and performance space.
“Although
the staff has changed faces many times since I’ve been there, they are all
really kind and try to support us as best they can,” Aguanno said. “One of our
biggest problems has been with scheduling consistent space to rehearse and
perform. Their schedule is very busy and they service many other city groups
and private ventures so I have to schedule our performance dates way in advance
… Another major challenge we face
is storage space, as over the years we’ve accumulated many costumes, props and
set pieces.”
Asked
about her goals, Aguanno responded, “it would be so great to have a little
theater where we would rehearse and perform and have storage space and dressing
rooms. I don’t know how that’s
going to happen, but I’m keeping the idea as a real possibility. Another goal
is to establish a scholarship fund so that more of the tuition would be
subsidized for kids in need.”
Aguanno’s
daughters – who were, after all, the catalysts for dee-Lightful’s creation –
told of the powerful effect it had in shaping their lives.
Tiffany
Williams is now 23 and performing her first professional gig in the musical 42nd
Street with Moonlight Stage
Productions in San Diego.
“I can’t even count how many shows I
have worked on with my mother,” Williams said. “From the time I was 12 until I
was a senior in high school I participated in my mom’s shows, both on and off
stage. Whether I had the chance to be center stage singing my heart out, in the
chorus dancing my butt off, working as a camp counselor, stage managing,
choreographing, controlling lights and/or sound, in charge of costumes or
helping to paint/create the scenery, I always felt like I was an important part
of a huge collaborative effort.”
Her
sister, Allegra, 19, who is currently a sophomore majoring in Musical Theater
at Cal State Chico, said that “growing up constantly surrounded by musical
theater and being able to express myself on stage has shown me the path that I
want to take in my life. If it weren’t for dee-Lightful Productions, who knows
where I’d be
right now?
“It has allowed me to open up as a person and not be
afraid to express myself, whether it’s on stage or off stage. I am so grateful
that my mother founded this organization because I knew from the day I got on
stage that that’s what I wanted to do with my life.”
Look for Part II in next week’s edition of the News, which will look at some of the parents and children who have participated in dee-Lightful Productions, and will detail its upcoming show.
Cast and crew full of praise for dee-Lightful Productions
Part I introduced Dolores
Aguanno’s dee-Lightful Productions, which provides musical theater training for
children ages seven to 17.
By Sandra Coopersmith
The parents and children involved with
dee-Lightful Productions come together to create a formidable cheering section
in support of enthusiastic young actors.
Sophie McLean, whose daughter, Mollie, had been with a previous
theater group from kindergarten to age nine, spoke of her family’s experience.
“We met dee-Lightful Productions at the La Ballona Festival.
Dolores was manning the booth. Having become unhappy with the previous group we
had been with, we decided to give dee-Lightful a shot. Our aim as parents is to
always have our children in a friendly, safe environment, leading them into
adulthood with good morals, good friends and a sense of giving back. I can
honestly say that joining this group has changed our lives for our entire
family.”
Thirteen-year-old Emma Castro shared one of her favorite memories.
“During Aladdin there was just music playing before we all started getting ready
for our show. The song Seasons of Love from Rent began to play and a few of us got up on stage and just started
singing. Unrehearsed, unplanned, but boy did we sound good! This was one of my favorite experiences
because it really shows that we are all in this together and how much we all
care for each other and that Seasons
of Love is basically the dee-Lightful
theme song.”
Pam Fader, mother of Brandon Blum, a 17-year-old junior at Culver
City High and active member of the high school’s Academy of Visual and
Performing Arts, said there were “so many wonderful moments that it is really
hard to pick one. I would say that
one of the happiest times for me was getting to stage manage with Chris. Having that and then Jeremy helping out
with lights and Brandon on stage, it really was amazing to have our whole
family working together.
“My daughter, Emma, nine years old, had never done any formal
singing before this past summer, let alone musical theater,” Janine deZarn told
the News. “So when she wanted to sign up for a musical theater camp called
dee-Lightful Productions I was skeptical. The hours were long and I thought
she’d be burnt out before she even got through the blocking process. I couldn’t
have been more wrong. From day one, Emma loved it and lit up like a Christmas
tree when she walked into camp each morning, hugging new friends and
counselors, forgetting I was even there!”
Dana Murphy, 21, a fourth-year theater major at UC San Diego who,
started with dee-Lightful when she was 11, has been working with its summer
camp for the past few years as a staff member and last summer directed one of
its productions, Once on This Island.
“dee-Lightful Productions and Dolores Aguanno opened my eyes to
the world
of theater as a young adult and gave me the self confidence and passion for art
that have formed me into the actress, director, choreographer, and person that
I am today,” she said. “Theater in general is an amazing tool for helping young
people break out of their shells and become comfortable in their own skin, but
Dolores brings a special element to dee-Lightful that makes it unlike any other
children’s theater that I have been a part of.”
“My oldest daughter, Tia, who is 11, found her true love, song, by
trying musical theater camp,” said Christina Geas-Lane. “Along the way she has
met some of the nicest, smartest, funniest kids around, and parents as well.
This year, my youngest daughter joined and she loves it just as much but for
different -reasons – she got to act like a dog for months! And again she has
met the most wonderful people.”
Susan Rosales, Kacey Mayeda’s mother, told two things that have
stood out during her 13-year-old daughter’s involvement with dee-Lightful
Productions.
“First is Dolores’s ability to understand the
essence of the characters, which enables her to cast beyond traditional images.
It allows our Asian-American daughter to break the stereotype of a blonde
-Disney Cinderella and to play an Annie without short curly red hair. Second,
we have
found that dee-Lightful is not just a resource for children. Many of the best
friends we have made as adults have come from the ranks of the fellow parents
of the cast members.”
“Our daughter Audrey Rose first met Dolores at awinter break
theater workshop through Culver City Parks and Recreation,” said Elizabeth
Belser. “She was seven and that was it.
She proceeded to become a part of the dee-Lightful family and did more
than a dozen shows over the past seven years. Some of Audrey’s best friends
were made from her years spent with Dolores.”
Karen Hilsberg credits dee-Lightful
Productions with helping her 10-year-old son, Ben, “to discover his voice. He
has learned not only to sing, dance and act but also to speak up for himself.
He has gained confidence, which he takes with him into social situations,
school and athletics. Perhaps the most valuable aspect of dee-Lightful is the
warm community of families who develop friendships with each other over the
years. My son has made very good friends whom he sees weekly at dee-Lightful
and socializes with outside of dee-Lightful.”
Aguanno interjects teaching opportunities that
go beyond learning one’s lines or hitting one’s marks.
“With each show I try to give the kids some
background of the show and the cultural issues and values of the time the show
was first produced, and when and where it takes place,” Aguanno said. “Annie,
for example, deals with child neglect and abuse. Fiddler on the Roof, Mulan and Aladdin have themes of breaking tradition, the struggle
to do things a little differently from how they’ve always been done. The show
we’re working on right now, Guys and
Dolls, originally
produced on Broadway in 1950, reflects the attitudes and behaviors of New York
City males and females towards each other.”
That newest production will be playing Jan. 14-16 at the Veterans
Memorial Building, located at 4117 Overland Ave. The Full Show (ages 11-17) will be
performed each night, and there will also be a matinee performance Jan. 16. The Musical Revue (ages
7-10) will be performed at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 15 and noon Jan. 16.
The Full Show tickets are $10 for
adults, $8 for children 14 and under, and $5 for seniors 65 and older. The Musical Revue tickets are $5 for
everyone. Tickets will be sold at the door, and Culver City Unified School
District teachers may attend without charge.
Aguanno beamed as she spoke of “what a beautiful community theater we’ve become in the last 10 years. I can’t believe that this 2009/2010 season is our 10th year. We have to do something to commemorate 10 years. I don’t know what yet, but something”
