One of the casts of“ Lion King, Jr.” poses for a picture in front of the student-made“ Circle of Life” sun.
teachers, was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will forever be grateful for,” says Jaecks.
By day, Jaecks is an elementary art teacher at Marshall Elementary School in the North Allegheny School District as well as an elementary art facilitator for the entire district. She also serves as coordinator for the district’ s Traveling Art Gallery program.
Prior to the start of her master’ s degree program, Jaecks was the choreographer for the North Allegheny High School spring musical and choreographed nine shows for the district from 2007 through 2015.“ During‘ Shrek the Musical,’ my husband even solicited the cast’ s help for his marriage proposal to me,” smiles Jaecks.
She is currently the Artistic Director for Gibsonia’ s JBT— a group that provides educational practice and performance opportunities in voice, dance, acting and stagecraft for kids in Pre-K through high school, as well as professional performance and leadership opportunities for JBT alumni and artists in residence.
JBT was founded by Christie Jeter— who still works as Director, Producer and Musical Director for the organization— when she determined there was a need for quality children’ s theater education in the area. The first production literally took place in her backyard, which spawned the name Jeter Backyard Theater.
Now, 10 years later, the group rehearses at the“ home base” in Gibsonia and performs at The Kean Theater, a venue that seats 350 audience members. JBT performs up to eight full-scale musicals each year, including allday and half-day weekly summer camps that culminate in a show at the end of each week and uses MTI’ s Broadway Junior and KIDS Collection as its main curricular resource.
Typically a show’ s cast rehearses for eight to 10 weeks prior to show week, at which point everything is moved into Kean Theater for dress rehearsals and performances. A typical rehearsal schedule for a middle school student is two hours per week. Rehearsal times and days increase during tech week, in preparation for the show.
“ JBT is a safe, creative environment to train, practice and perform,” says Jaecks.“ Teachers and students enjoy a rich learning environment that encourages collaboration, generosity and leadership. We believe that supporting each other is the only way to succeed.”
In addition to serving the community artistically, the group is committed to supporting various organizations focused on improving the lives of foster children around the world. JBT has worked with Together We Rise to pack 250“ sweet cases” for local and regional children entering the foster system. The sweet cases contain hygiene and comfort items with a personal message of hope. JBT also has donated thousands of dollars to Children’ s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC pediatric cancer patients and the March of Dimes children’ s charity.
“ My favorite thing about JBT is the opportunity I have to work with amazing
JBT team before traveling to Atlanta for the Junior Theater Festival.
kids and educators throughout the creative process of putting on a show,” says Jaecks.“ Musical theater is the perfect collaboration between visual and performing arts, and children’ s musical theater adds a unique element of creativity and enthusiasm to the process.”
The members of JBT experienced this creative collaboration during the summer 2015 performance of“ The Lion King, Jr.” JBT students participated in an activity to create a sun backdrop from ordinary supplies including fabric, zip ties and deer fencing.“ The sun is integral to the plot of the show,” says Jaecks.“ It represents the Circle of Life.” To create the giant 12-foot circle, every student had to do his or her part and stand in an exact spot while it was cut out. The surrounding negative space was lifted away by the students to reveal a perfect circle that could not have been created without everyone’ s involvement. Every student then wove a strip of fabric into the sun, representing his or her part in the creation.“ This experience truly demonstrated that when creativity and collaboration work together, anything is possible,” adds Jaecks.
Part of what makes JBT such a special place is the group’ s educational philosophy that children learn by doing. JBT kids are given the opportunity to play all of the characters in a show, help build the sets and make props, run the lights and help backstage.“ When kids are given opportunities like these, they learn much more than just theater skills,” explains Jaecks.“ Kids learn to respect and work with others, to be responsible, to learn from their mistakes and learn how to be a part of a team that’ s working toward a common goal.”
For more information about Jeter Backyard Theater, or to become involved, visit jeterbackyardtheater. com. ■
Cranberry | Winter 2016 | icmags. com 21