How theater vets keep young castmates in line

Terry Nolen sounds like Santa ramping up the "know when you've been bad or good" speech as he talks about hiring kids for Arden Theatre's spring 2016 production of The Secret Garden. "If a young actor is cast and his or her grades drop, I tell them they have to leave the show," says Arden's artistic director. "I can't let that happen. That's their future, maybe even more so than theater. They must be able to juggle school and this - both are important."

The young cast members of Matilda the Musical (starting Tuesday at the Academy of Music), Billy Elliot (Wednesday at Media Theatre), and A Christmas Carol (Nov. 28 at the Walnut Street Theatre - where kid-rich A Christmas Story already is running - and Dec. 4 at Princeton's McCarter Theatre) have heard much the same thing from their elders long before curtain time.

Adult actors, cast overseers, teachers, and choreographers make sure no child is left behind when it comes to keeping grades up, feeling protected, and maintaining as much of real life for their young castmates as possible.

"We make our professional environments suitable for all ages and are determined to make our experience pleasurable," says Nolen. "I tell that to each kid and parent. Yes, it's rigorous, but we make sure that when it comes to communication - any issue about learning, what's expected of the kid inside and outside the show - we answer it."

Peter Darling is choreographer for the touring company of Matilda, about a highly precocious little girl, as well as for its original Broadway run. Before that, he did Billy Elliot, whose young protagonist, a miner's son, wants to dance rather than box.

He genuinely likes children.

"They make adults behave better," he says with a laugh. He sees kids as no less capable than adults, physically or mentally. "They're just capable in different ways." As he has dealt with raw, previously untrained Billy Elliots ("we found Billys in most unique circumstances, like mining camps"), Matilda is a piece of cake for Darling. Still, when working with three mischievous Matildas, ages 9 and 10, he must deal with tutors, handlers, and parents as an airport-runway controller would a busy flight plan.

"It's all about scheduling. When we set up rehearsals, we have the kids work on their artistic disciplines against a slate of scholastic studies. You have to work out everything to the minute. When one set of children is being tutored, another set is teching."

As Matilda deals with issues of overcoming adversities like bullying, I asked Darling whether he thought theater could shield kids from such in the real world while keeping them accessible.

"Give a child something they're good at and confident doing and suddenly their troubles aren't as important. They discover something to grab onto, something important to take forward. Seeking approval from bullies then becomes fruitless. They find strength within."

Thirteen-year-old Gunar Daniels of West Chester, one of two Billy Elliots in the Media Theatre production (Brandon Ranalli of Media, also 13, is the other), seems to have that strength in abundance. Along with being savvy enough to audition the Billy Elliot song "Electricity" (" 'Gary, Indiana' is my usual," he says), the young performer believes he is respected by the adults in the cast and the crew, "yet they understand that I have this other life - school and such - and accommodate for that. Everyone makes sure I keep up with my schooling, always."

It's helpful that Gunar and Brandon attend the same cyber school, but if a rehearsal runs long, Roger Ricker, Media's acting director and company manager, is in charge of making certain everything runs as planned.

"As company manager, I watch after their real-life daily plans," he said. So, cyber-schooled or not, if the kids have to rehearse late, they are provided with tutors in accordance with state regulations.

"Eight-hour day, an hour of tutoring - the boys have to fill out papers and work permits through Harrisburg, clear it with the school district, with parents, with us. We're on top of their lives," Ricker says, adding, "So are they."

Cassie Silva - who plays Matilda's vivaciously silly/awful mother, Mrs. Wormwood - may play a woman more obsessed with competitive ballroom dancing than her own daughter's well-being, but in reality the actress is a prominent part of the backstage lives of the three girls who play put-upon but spunky Matilda.

Actually, it's "16 Matildas, considering that I've done the show for a year and a half," says Silva. "They're unicorns - special, extremely smart, and professional with seemingly no ego, yet they're totally complex and giggly kids."

She's not the only one invested in keeping them that way; she's part of a team of guardians ("with them all the time") who supervise and protect the Matilda girls.

"The Royal Shakespeare Company [Matilda's producers] believe in maintaining the integrity of childhood, so the girls don't sign autographs and don't hang with crowds and take pictures." They also don't do interviews.

"They come and go as if it is playtime, then hit their mark when the show is on. It's important to be protective of that - that's how they stay normal."