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six and old as 23 , as her “ baby .” Ensembles of performers come together from Passaic and Morris Counties to act , sing and collaborate for six to eight weeks on full musicals such as Something Rotten or shorter ones like Seussical Jr . or Lion King Jr . ( Junior musicals are abridged adaptations for students in grades K-9 , and run 60-75 minutes ).
Both Music Theater International and Disney Theatrical use Aspire to try out junior versions of musicals such as Newsies and Finding Nemo Jr . in front of audiences before they ’ re released . “ It ’ s a chance for them to develop scripts and music and see how they work for younger performers ,” says Vettoso . “ Pilots are frozen in time , because if they make changes to the scripts after we perform them , we ’ ve done the only versions of those shows that exist .” Photos of Aspire performances are included in the published scripts , she says .
SHE LOVES HOW LITERATURE TO LIFE GIVES DIVERSE AUTHORS VOICES . Literature to Life began as the American Place Theater during the 1960s , says Vettoso , and featured actors including Sam Shepard and John Leguizamo . The organization transitioned to an education program in the ’ 90s , when Toni Morrison would only give permission for one of her novels to be adapted if it was performed by students for educational purposes .
The operation is “ bare bones ,” says Vettoso . Novels such as The Giver by Lois Lowry , Black Boy by Richard Wright and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini are adapted for solo performances in which an actor does all the voices ( similar to an Audible recording ). “ We showcase different perspectives from male , female , Black , white , different cultural backgrounds ,” says Vettoso , citing a recent adaptation of a memoir by aHmong author who grew up in a refugee camp in Thailand that was performed by a Hmong actor .
“ People in the audience will picture the story differently ,” she says .
THE POWER OF PERFORMANCE ( Top ) Aspire students perform the musical Seussical Jr . ( Above ) Literature to Life teaching artist Lisa Rosetta Strum and actor Kelvin Grullon lead apost-performance conversation .
“ We all become passionately tied to the images in our heads . It ’ s not simplified for students . You ’ re hearing the author ’ s language in a shorter format .” The performers are professional actors , she says , whose careers also take them to Hollywood , the Shakespeare Festival in Utah , and other stages . After the performance , actors hold Q & A sessions with the audience . “ The first question is usually , ‘ How did you memorize all of that ?’” says Vettoso .
USING ZOOM HAS OPENED UP PERFORMANCE POSSIBILITIES FOR THE NONPROFIT . Hired to run Literature to Life during the pandemic , Vettoso realized that performances could be modified and done remotely . “ We could perform excerpts and run workshops ,” she says , “ and students could write pieces and read them aloud .”
The experiences showed her that Literature to Life ’ s reach could also be extended nationwide over Zoom to groups who don ’ t have the budget to fly them out for in-person shows . One remote show featuring a Black actor performing a work by a Black writer brought a different perspective to students in Hanover , New Hampshire .
BLOOMFIELD ’ S LOCATION ALLOWS FOR AN EASY WORK-LIFE BALANCE . Vettoso and her husband , who works at the Metropolitan Opera in Manhattan , were familiar with Bloomfield due to its proximity to Montclair , where they frequent restaurants and the Montclair Art Museum . “ He jumps on the bus , and Ican jump into my car to get to Aspire in Wayne ,” she says . “ We love where we are .” ■
KIDS : COURTESY OF THOMAS SALUS ; LITERATURE TO LIFE : COURTESY OF LITERATURE TO LIFE
12 FALL 2022 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE