A local documentary following a musical production by the Penguin Project of the Quad Cities is airing on PBS station WQPT this month.
“I AM disABLEd” follows nine young actors with disabilities over one year as they perform the musical "Seussical". The production rehearsals are done at the Center for Living Arts in Rock Island. Dino and Tina Hayz are the owners of the center and joined the Penguin Project of the QC in 2016, founded by Augustana College Professor of Theatre Jeff Coussens.
“We began with having 34 participants, and we went up to 91 participants for "Seussical". So that was artists plus the mentors. So we had about 45 of each going into that production,” Tina Hayz said. “And so we would do our rehearsals, and we would have all of those actors, plus many of the parents stayed around to watch what happened. Plus, we had a crew of 10 to 15 from Fresh Films, students, and staff, and they were coming into our rehearsals just to get footage to see how the whole process worked. And then they also made visits to the homes of a select few of the participants to get their reactions to, say, when they got the cast list of what part they got, and then also talked about the different struggles that they have in their own personal lives.”
One of those young artists is Hannah Rath. Rath played the role of Sour Kangaroo. She says memorizing lines was a challenge at first, but she enjoyed the process and making new friends.
“I'd like to encourage other people with disabilities that just because they're disabled doesn't mean they can't do the things that they enjoy,” Rath said. “My favorite part was working together to make the show and feeling like I'm a part of something.”
The production process is spread between two locations, as Coussens explains, “Dino and Tina Hayz rehearse with the actors at the Center for Living Arts. That's their rehearsal space. And we do that from September till we get to January,” Coussens said. “And then in January, the Penguin Project production moves over to the Brunner Theatre. And at that point, a lot of our students are involved in running crew, building sets, costumes, and doing all the backstage and behind-the-scenes stuff.”
Seussical was the third production completed following "Annie" and "Beauty and the Beast". The latter performance caught the attention of the local film production company, Fresh Films, founded by Estlin Feigley and his wife, Kelli.
“One of my daughters was actually volunteering in the Penguin Project, and I went to see it. Now some of your audience is going to be a little bit like, ‘can't believe he feels this way.’ I'm not always a big fan of musicals. But when you see a musical done in the way that they do it, in the Penguin Project. It truly blows you away. You just see the musical in a whole new light,”
“[I]t gives us an amazing opportunity to let young filmmakers get on set working in a real documentary, a documentary that is currently airing on PBS [Passport], and giving them the opportunity to learn the real skills that it takes to create a documentary,” Feigley said. “And those skills, especially today, translate, my goodness, it's kind of incredible, almost directly into their real lives.”
One of those young filmmakers is Andrew Rea, who was a production assistant on the film. Rea was attending Augustana College at the time and interned at Fresh Films. He said middle school-aged kids were doing most of the shooting, but he helped coordinate and supervise shooting schedules.
“And so working on the film was really a valuable sort of crash course in video production and specifically documentary style video production, what that looks like and what that feels like,” Rea said. “So I learned a whole lot from that experience that ended up kind of serving me well in future jobs where I utilize some of those same skills.” Rea is currently working as an archivist at Kansas State University.
“[S]o it was really interesting to watch those student filmmakers who were not only learning about making films through the internship with Fresh Films, but they were also learning skills of empathy and learning how to relate to people who are different from ourselves,” Coussens said. “So it was a really amazing experience, I think, for everybody.”
The Penguin Project of the Quad Cities is in the midst of its next production, "Frozen Junior". Rath is part of the cast and says rehearsals are going well.
“I still have like a thousand lines to remember. Not really. I'm just over exaggerating. But yeah, it's a whole process to learn the choreography, which our choreographer and our director are awesome. Dino and Tina Hayes. For me, I think the hardest part is remembering lines,” Rath said.
Dino and Tina Hayz explain that the production is being performed by two groups, “Many of the artists, as you know, they just get older, and there was nothing for them to do anymore,” Dino Hayz said. “So last year we decided to add the Penguin Players of the Quad Cities, which is for ages 24 and up. So we did two shows last year, the same show, but two different casts. And we're doing the exact same thing this year with "Frozen Junior". So we have two different productions that we're working on currently, and we are well into rehearsals. We're just about ready to gear up for our winter break, and we have just a few more scenes to stage, and we'll be ready to start running our show fully in just a few weeks.”
A challenge for Penguin Players is finding older mentors. Tina Hayz said the rehearsal schedule is Wednesdays and Saturdays, and those who love art and have a giving heart should follow their social media pages for updates on future volunteer opportunities.
“We started our very first program, which was a musical with a cast of four. And we currently have 300 students that we see on a weekly basis. So it's grown exponentially. We are at capacity in all of our programs. And so it’s a wonderful place to be,” Dino Hayz said. “Because the arts can be a beautiful, healing, and wonderful thing, especially for youth. It gives them something larger than themselves to focus on. And it teaches teamwork and confidence and dedication, and it develops talent. And we've seen the talent in this community of the Quad Cities grow so much over the last 20 years.”
"I AM disABLEd" will air on WQPT Sunday, December 14th at 8 p.m. and again on Thursday, December 18th at 5 p.m. The documentary is currently available online.
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