Before confidence has a name and bravery feels natural, there’s a need of a moment a child discovers themselves in the spotlight. Actor for an Evening gives that moment a home and space to grow and nurture the love of performing.
Where there is applause, there is imagination. For one night each year, the stage belongs to the smallest actors brave enough to try something new. In just a few hours, students attending Actor For An Evening learn the spotlight doesn’t just shine, it welcomes them into the world of performing. As groups of children are guided by drama students, the event helps Northview’s second through sixth grade students strengthen improvisation, experience a theater walk through, and most importantly, embrace the silliness of performing. The fundraising event was first launched by the retired Director of The Max Colley Jr. Performing Arts Center, Mike Frank, the event now lives on through director and educator Matt McKay and current Performing Arts Center director, Jon Carr. It serves The Northview Drama Department as a vital fundraiser as well as a doorway into theater for young actors.
The stage isn’t just for performing, it allows a rediscovering of joy that we often see children grow out of too fast. To the event coordinator and director, Matt McKay, the event is more than learning lines and playing games, it’s about giving children the permission to be bold, to be loud, and to find the confidence in being wonderfully silly again.
“At its core theater is about playing, and kids are great at playing. Especially when they get to fifth and sixth grade. The younger kids it’s trying to get them confident to play with people watching,” McKay said, “Then as they get older you have to remind the older kids it’s okay to play. It’s okay to be a little bit silly. And in fact, embrace that.”
The event doesn’t just offer games and improv, it gently leads students back to the fearlessness, innocence, and creativity of childhood, back to when pretending came naturally and joy didn’t need permission. To McKay watching as laughter consumes the kids and confidence and fills their voices he knows Actor For An Evening is shaping the next generation of performers.
“I think the biggest part is to just give them that opportunity to be like, ‘hey man, you’re in a group of people doing something that seems weird, but it’s really not weird. It’s just play and it’s fun. It’s no different than when you were three. You were unabashedly playing characters and having scenarios with toys and inanimate objects,’” McKay said.
The tragedy isn’t that we grow up, it’s that somewhere along the way we stop letting ourselves be children. Growing up doesn’t erase our ability to play, it only hides it under self doubt and fear. McKay sees the way theater offers a way to dig yourself out of that heavy blanket of doubt and back into a childlike spotlight.
”We lose that when we get older because we become self-conscious of it. So if we can help them say, ‘hey, there’s this group of other people who want to do that same thing, it’s a safe place for you to do it. We all want to play again,’” McKay said.
Actor For An Evening starts with imagination but over time it can grow into leadership. For senior Northview student and drama club volunteer, Casper Burke, helping the younger kids embrace theater didn’t just impact her, it shaped her into the person she is today.
“I became a better leader by doing Actor For An Evening because I had to stand up there and teach little kids how to do a dance that we were doing in Matilda at the time, which was high school level choreography,” Burke said.
Beyond the leadership and lessons, the magic of the night lives in the simple joy of being a kid. There is beauty in watching kids enjoy being kids. No pressure. No perfection. No limits. Just giggles and brave little hearts daring to try something new. For Burke, witnessing this wonder firsthand became the most meaningful part of volunteering.
“The kids were just funny. They didn’t take it super seriously because they were just little kids. But I could tell that they were having fun. So that’s all that really mattered,” Burke said.
Actor for an Evening doesn’t end when the night is over, it stays with the students as they grow into members of the theater community, even if their place shifts behind the curtain. For senior Alli Bowerman, becoming the booth manager for The Northview Theater Department brings back the memories of where it all started. It roots itself back in the very theater she attended as a child. Before she ever worked behind the scenes, she was a nervous kid stepping into Actor For An Evening.
“I did it when I was really little, and I was kind of freaked out about doing it,” Bowerman said. “I remember that when I showed up to actually do it, I had a lot of fun, because it was such a big place that I’d never seen before and it was very exciting to learn the ins and outs of.”
What begins as curiosity holds the power to grow into something long lasting. Actor For An Evening often serves as a gentle introduction to every part of the stage, allowing students the space to grow and find their place in the theater, even those who move behind the curtain. Actor for an Evening gives students like Bowerman the moment to see how every part of the stage works together while setting in motion a lifelong devotion and admiration for tech theater.
“I think it [Actor for an Evening] was able to satiate that initial interest, it exposes you to it. It kind of makes it seem less scary. And for me, it was a way to make new friends and see new things that I’d never seen before,” Bowerman said. “It started a butterfly effect for me later down the line when I started actually watching shows and I could pull from that experience.”
As the lights dim and the laughter fades, Actor for an Evening leaves behind more than memories, it leaves a possibility. Under the soft glow of the stage lights, laughter travels further than applause and into the imagination of the next generation of performers. Actor For An Evening transforms Northview Performing Arts Center into a place where confidence builds and voices are found. The event invites Northview families to give their children a space to play, be brave, and discover whether the stage might just become a second home. Year after year, the Northview Theater Department continues to welcome new voices, reminding them that theater is not just a place to perform, but a place to belong.
Leave a Reply