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Living in Revolting Times: A Kid’s Perspective of COVID-19
It’s not everyday a cast of a production has to cancel their show because of a pandemic. We recently had to cancel our final weekend of performances for ‘Matilda the Musical’ to help keep our actors, audience members, and staff safe. Hear from our youngest cast members of ‘Matilda’ what it was like and how they’re staying busy.
Tanner Bennett during our production of Matilda.
Name: Tanner Bennett
Age: 13
School: Bernotas Middle School
Role: Tommy
Tell us a little about yourself and your time in Matilda: I had so much fun backstage with the amazing cast and it was really an awesome show.How did you feel when you found out our show would be closing due to COVID-19? I felt really sad when I found out we were closing early because first, I had a lot of people coming to see me closing night and second, I wasn’t ready to say goodbye a week early to all my friends in the cast.Tell us about how your last weekend felt and what your memories are: It felt sad but also kind of empowered me to really go out there and give the audience three hours of forgetting about everything that was happening.How are you handling being home for the rest of your school year? It’s gonna be hard not seeing my friends, but at least I get to have a break and hang out and relax.
What have you been doing to keep yourself entertained while social distancing? I have been running lines for another show I am in, Annie Jr., and I have been playing lots of sports and video games.
What are your hopes for the future when all of this is over? I hope everything goes back to normal and that if this happens again, people will take it more seriously.
Do you have any words of encouragement for our community right now? My advice is to hang in there until it’s over and stay strong and healthy!
Braden Crothers (middle, banana costume) during a birthday party in Matilda.
Tell us a little about yourself and your time in Matilda:
Hi, my name is Braden I am in fifth grade. Most people call me Brady. I love acting, singing, dancing, reading, and watching YouTube. I have a twin brother but we are not identical. I also have a younger brother and two older sisters. I have been acting and modeling since I was three years old. I’ve been in many shows, and I’ve also done a lot of commercials. I’ve been in several films and TV shows too, and have modeled for a lot of different companies. I really love performing and modeling! Being in “Matilda” was one of the best acting experiences I’ve ever had. I made a lot of new friends and the show was so fun. I miss it so much!
How did you feel when you found out our show would be closing due to COVID-19?
It was such a big bummer that we didn’t to finish our full run. I wish we could have done the show forever and ever and ever. But I feel so thankful that we were able to do two of the three weekends.
Tell us about how your last weekend felt and what your memories are:
Even though we all felt sad, we all just wanted to do our best for the last shows. It was a hard situation but we wanted to make the best of it and not let the show be affected. We all wanted the last shows to be the best ones and I think they were!
How are you handling being home for the rest of your school year? For me it’s not too hard because I am home schooled so I’m used to doing school at home. It is different though because now my four siblings who go to school are also home so sometimes it is hard not to be distracted by everyone. It’s also really hard that I don’t get to see any of my friends from my acting and dancing classes, my home school co-op, Boy Scouts, and the boys choir I am in. I also really miss doing in-person lessons with my voice and tap teachers. I am doing a lot of those things virtually now but as we all know it’s not the same!
What have you been doing to keep yourself entertained while social distancing?
I’ve been doing my schoolwork, playing a lot of board games with my family, doing art projects, jumping on our trampoline, and watching TV or YouTube. I’m also doing acting classes and coaching, voice lessons, and dance lessons, all virtually. I want to keep improving in those things so that when this is over I can go back to auditioning and hopefully being in shows!
What are your hopes for the future when all of this is over?
I really hope that I can do more shows with Theatre 121. Everyone is so nice! I was really hoping to do “Newsies” with them so I was so sad that they had to cancel that show too. I’m excited to hang out with my friends again. I hope that this hard time will help us all be kinder to each other.
Do you have any words of encouragement for our community right now?
Even though it’s hard now, we will get through this! Try to find the positives if you can! Even though we sometimes get sick of each other, I am really happy I get to spend more time with my family right now. Usually we are all so busy and we are running all over the place. Now we don’t have to worry about anything else and can just hang out. I am especially glad that I get to spend more time with my two older sisters who will be seniors in high school next year and then will go to college. Remember to be kind and stay safe! Wash your hands!
Lia Hyrkas (right) as Amanda Thripp being thrown by the Trunchbull during Matilda.
Name: Lia Hyrkas
Age: 10
School: Mary Endres Elementary
Role: Amanda Thripp
Tell us a little about yourself and your time in Matilda:
My name is Lia and I have been in 6 shows including this one. I also have been in many ballet shows. I liked dancing and singing with the amazing and talented people in the show.
How did you feel when you found out our show would be closing due to COVID-19?
I felt very sad that I couldn’t do the last weekend of the show and have less time with these amazing people. Also, it made me hate COVID-19 more.
Tell us about how your last weekend felt and what your memories are:
The last weekend felt so sad and I knew that I wouldn’t have more time with this. One of my memories was when I first tried on the harness because Trunchbull swings Amanda around and first I was scared but then it felt like I was at an amusement park. Another memory is when Natalie, Sophia, Malaika, and I were laughing for some reason when we were singing.
How are you handling being home for the rest of your school year?
I feel really sad and angry because my best friend, Ella is not going to be at school next year.
What have you been doing to keep yourself entertained while social distancing?
I have been playing legos with my sister and playing outside.
What are your hopes for the future when all of this is over? I hope to see my friends again and that I finely go inside McDonald’s again.
Do you have any words of encouragement for our community right now?
Take this time with your families playing games, singing songs and dancing. We’re all in this together.
Will Madigan (right) getting his ears pulled by the Trunchbull during our production of Matilda.
Name: Will Madigan
Age: 14
School: Northwood Middle School
Role: Eric
Tell us a little about yourself and your time in Matilda:
I had a great time in Matilda, I made new friends and learned a lot from the extremely talented kids and adults around me. The experience made me a better performer and I’m pretty sure everyone in the cast would say the same.
How did you feel when you found out our show would be closing due to COVID-19?
When I found out that our last weekend had been cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak I was obviously sad. Not that we wouldn’t be able to perform, although that was part of it, but mostly because I wouldn’t get to spend more time doing the things I love with people I love. Because at the end of the day, a big part of the experience depends on the people around you, and I could not be more grateful for the people that made this experience amazing.
Tell us about how your last weekend felt and what your memories are:
The last weekend we had together was sad, because we all knew that it would be the last. But we enjoyed it, and made the most of the time we had together, even though that time was cut short. In between shows we played board games, laughed, talked, and had fun.
How are you handling being home for the rest of your school year?
Sadly, just like everything else, school was cancelled. I like and miss my teachers and am extremely thankful for them and how they continue to teach us. The biggest things that I miss about school are the social interaction and being Timon in the school musical, The Lion King Jr. I miss all my friends, and I feel that it was a sudden and abrupt turn to not see them almost every day. Thankfully, technology is making this time a lot easier for all of us. Because of the ability to see our friends through our phones, computers, etc. it takes a big part of the stress off of our shoulders in this difficult time.
What have you been doing to keep yourself entertained while social distancing?
I have spent a lot of my time at home chatting with friends, just to maintain that connection. I’ve done other things like video games, playing outside (in my yard of course), riding my bike, singing and playing my ukulele, and board games with my family.
What are your hopes for the future when all of this is over?
The future is unreadable, and the situation is changing constantly and so fast, so I don’t know when this is going to be over, but my money’s on it continuing at least throughout the summer, even though I really don’t want it to. But it’s for the best that we listen and follow social distancing rules for the people who are at risk and unable to fight off this disease. When this is all over, even though it looks like it won’t be any time soon, I just wanna sit with my friends and relax and have fun.
Do you have any words of encouragement for our community right now?
If I could broadcast news to every single person out there I just wanna say: Everyone is struggling right now. Rich, poor, famous, not, alone, together, all of us are. But what will happen depends on how we adapt and respond to the struggle. I know we can get through this, together. (And at least 6 feet apart.)
Emerich Parpart as Michael during our production of Matilda.
Name: Emerich Parpart
Age: 13
School: Northwood Middle School
Role: Michael
Tell us a little about yourself and your time in Matilda: I love a lot of what some may call weird and random things, I love water skiing and escape rooms and loads of other stuff, and I can get easily interested in something new as soon as I see it. Now for Matilda, I had an amazing time in Matilda from the very beginning, as soon as we were at callbacks I met a ton of awesome people and at that point was hoping to get into the show to get to spend time with them just as much as I wanted to be onstage. From the first read through I knew it was going to be an amazing show when I saw everyone turn into their characters for the first time, and each rehearsal just got better and better.How did you feel when you found out our show would be closing due to COVID-19?
I remember when Travis brought the cast out onto the stage and as soon as he said so I was so disappointed cause at that point we had put so much work into it, and once you’re at that last weekend, it’s all just natural and you can have fun with it, and losing that was terrible.
Tell us about how your last weekend felt and what your memories are:
That last weekend was bittersweet because we all knew it was our last, so we all gave it everything we had, but it was also just terrible, because it shouldn’t have had to be the last.
How are you handling being home for the rest of your school year?
After like the first week of being home like this, I was ready to be done, and the main reason is that I just miss people, I just wanna see my friends.
What have you been doing to keep yourself entertained while social distancing?
Lucky for me I have a really cool choir teacher and he dropped off a bunch of fancy recording equipment one day at my house, so a lot of my time has been learning how to use it but after that I’ve recorded a bunch of new songs.
What are your hopes for the future when all of this is over?
I really just want to see my friends when all this is over, and just do something, clearly I haven’t thought about it much in detail.
Do you have any words of encouragement for our community right now?
Please, just don’t go insane.
Malaika Parpart (right, pirate costume) during a birthday party in Matilda.
Tell us a little about yourself and your time in Matilda:
When I found out I got a callback, I was amazed. Honestly, I didn’t think my audition was that great, but you don’t say no to a callback. Then I found out I made it in and it was unbelievable. I had only been in two shows there before and it was the best feeling ever. The rehearsals were all fun. And opening night was one of the best days of my life. All the hard work paid off and it was incredible. I loved it. Every second was awesome.
How did you feel when you found out our show would be closing due to COVID-19?
I was really sad, obviously, but I was happy that we got to at least do the second weekend of shows. With everything that happened that week, I was afraid we wouldn’t get to go back and do more. It was really disappointing, having to close early, but it helped me enjoy the shows more and live in the moment.
Tell us about how your last weekend felt and what your memories are:
Playing Dungeons and Dragons was really fun. And Catan. All the crazy things we did to keep ourselves entertained between shows. Every second was so fun. I will never forget that last “We are REVOLTING!” It was unforgettable. Sad, but awesome.
How are you handling being home for the rest of your school year?
I will be baking a lot. Because I know I will be bored a lot. I go on a lot of walks and take pictures of all the flowers. I will read all of the Harry Potter books. It’s sad. I miss my friends and our school show was cancelled. It is really sad that we have to miss all the fun things we were supposed to do at the end of eighth grade.
What have you been doing to keep yourself entertained while social distancing?
Baking, reading, going on walks, and finding other random ways to entertain myself. Writing down my favorite recipes for my cookbook and recording covers of Phineas and Ferb songs with Emerich.
What are your hopes for the future when all of this is over?
I really really really really hope that I don’t have to miss my first day of High School, because I have been looking forward to that for a long time. But I also hope we can find a new normal and just go back to regular, plain old life, even if it is regular and plain sometimes.
Do you have any words of encouragement for our community right now?
Hang in there and try not to go insane. Also, stay home if you can and do everything you are supposed to do so this can all be over faster.
Sophia Stabenow playing during our production of Matilda.
Name: Sophia Stabenow
Age: 11
School: Parkland Middle School
Role: Alice
Tell us a little about yourself and your time in Matilda:
I love to play animal crossing, love to sing, I love musical theatre, and I’m in sixth grade.How did you feel when you found out our show would be closing due to COVID-19?
I was so upset because, this was my first time ever being in a musical theatre performance and it was very special to me.
Tell us about how your last weekend felt and what your memories are:
I remember on the last weekend I was very upset, but On the last night I was a total wreck. The memories I have are somewhat of performing for people but, it’s mostly hanging out with everyone because everyone is really like family, and is always so supportive.
How are you handling being home for the rest of your school year?
I guess I’m handling it okay it’s just, I’m super bored and I normally hate school but, right now I would do anything to go back.
What have you been doing to keep yourself entertained while social distancing?
I have been playing a lot of animal crossing,I have been baking a lot, watching Netflix and Disney plus, and I have been hanging out with my family.
What are your hopes for the future when all of this is over?
To go to the pool, to finally go to stores, see my friends, and a lot more but that would take forever to list everything.
Do you have any words of encouragement for our community right now?
Even though we are technically trapped, and we are all bored, make sure to stay positive and know that this HOPEFULLY will all be over soon.
Tell us a little about yourself and your time in Matilda:
I’m Story. I like to sing and dance. I love to hang out with my friends and I love pugs. My time in Matilda was very fun, and being in the show brought me joy – every time we would rehearse or do a show. Everyone in that show was a great person and so great to work with.
How did you feel when you found out our show would be closing due to COVID-19?
I could see it coming that it was just going to happen, because everything else was shutting down around us. Even though I knew and saw it coming, it was still a bit shocking when it happened. It was so sad to hear and I was really upset that we wouldn’t be able to do our last two weekends of shows but at least we got to do shows before the shut downs happened.
Tell us about how your last weekend felt and what your memories are:
The last weekend was so sad and so fun, because it was the last time we could do the show and the last time we got to be our full cast together. It was also fun to pour our whole hearts out on the stage and give it all that we had. A memory that I have of it was the last show day. We all got together in a circle and we got gifts for the directors. We were so happy to be together in that moment and sad all at once.
How are you handling being home for the rest of your school year?
It’s definitely very upsetting because a lot of my friends are going to different middle schools than me, and I didn’t get to say good bye to all of them. I will also miss all of my teachers as well because I really didn’t get to say good bye to them either.
What have you been doing to keep yourself entertained while social distancing?
I have been reading, doing things with family like going on bike rides, playing games, watching movies and shows, etc. I’ve been going into the yard and talking to my best friend and next door neighbor, Liz. We talk and sometimes even play 6 feet apart to be safe. I also Facetime my friends and talk every day, and I have been playing a game that I love called Roblox.
What are your hopes for the future when all of this is over?
In the future I really hope that people are more kind to each other and understand how important it is to take care of one another. I also hope that I can see all my friends one last time and hug them before they go off to a different middle school. I would also hope that from now on, people are not scared to come outside. I still hope people get outside again and not hide themselves.
Do you have any words of encouragement for our community right now?
I want everybody to do what they love -that does not involve anything that is not ok to do right now.- and that makes them happy so that we can all get through this. I hope everybody stays safe, well, and healthy.
