The Flint Hills Sewing Guild has joined two sisters in helping youngsters enjoy hands-on theater experience in the Emporia community.
Members of the guild met Saturday at the Lyon County Extension Service for an initial work session to make costumes for the Young Thespians troupe. They sorted through pattern pieces, pinned them to a variety of fabrics, and cut and sewed throughout the day. Other work days will be held as needed, according to guild member Velma Walker.
Walker said the project fits the guild’s mission statement: to advance sewing as an art and life skill.
The costumes are just one of many community service projects the guild performs, from mending new garments from retail stores to giving to SOS clients, to making Christmas stockings for the veterans at the center in Topeka, to making health kits for soldiers in Iraq.
“It will be both an educational and enjoyable project to work with the children,” Walker said. “Maybe it will be inspirational for some of them to learn to sew.”
Walker’s grandson, Jamie Schmidt, is a member of Young Thespians, so Walker was aware of the load of responsibilities that were being carried by the troupe’s founders, Penni Hanson and Susie LeGault.
“My sister is the one who started it,” LeGault said. “I am her close accomplice in that.”
The sisters had been in a similar theater group in Topeka when they were children and wanted Emporia youngsters to have an opportunity to enjoy the same experience.
“So, we started just out of our garage,” LeGault said.
Performances have moved to the Emporia Arts Council building and, in time, the goal is to move shows to the Granada Theater, which has been undergoing extensive renovations.
LeGault said the Young Thespians offers a theater opportunity that extends beyond what had been offered in the past.
“The kind of theater that we do is different than what is offered in Emporia, in terms of getting the kids to really focus on what their characters are thinking and feeling,” LeGault said. “It’s more than just memorizing the lines.”
The sisters involve the children in all aspects of the experience, including costuming, make-up, lights and sounds.
“That’s our goal, is to make it into something that kids can be involved in, all areas of it,” she said.
Her sister, Hansen, whom LeGault called a “self-taught costume person,” directs the plays. LeGault is in charge of music, props and publicity; her husband, Greg, designs and makes the sets, and their mother, Wilma Cravens helps out, as well.
“Penni, especially, because she’s sort of the heart and soul of the whole deal,” LeGault said.
Welcome assistance from the sewing guild came through Walker during the troupe’s last production.
She said, “I’m in the sewing guild, if you ever need help,” LeGault quoted Walker.
And Walker needed to say no more. The sisters made a presentation about the troupe at a guild meeting, and many extra pairs of hands shot up to volunteer.
“It’s a great thing to have found the ladies who would be interested and, again, that’ going to be a wonderful thing.”
Hansen will choose the “look” for the appropriate costumes and design what she needs.
“That sort of lessens the loads for her and lets her focus on other things,” LeGault said. Such help from the community and parents is “a godsend,” she added.
The Young Thespians will perform on July 4 as part of the sesquicentennial celebration’s Street Festival and will open its new show on July 12.
“I think that people who come to see the shows go “Whoa! I didn’t realize kids could do this,” LeGault said. “They really exceed what you expect of them.”