BURBANK, Calif. — Theater-making is a massive undertaking requiring many sets of hands.
While the staff at Garry Marshall Theatre is busily preparing to bring back their original musical "Cindy and the Disco Ball," they've got some young shadows following them around — a small group of kids who are part of a new program called GMT Teen Tech.
"Garry Marshall Theatre recognized that there was really like a missing spot for young people who are excited about theater but didn't necessarily want to be on stage with the spotlight on them, but would rather run the spotlight or design the lights or be part of costumes or props or wigs or scenic," artistic director Joseph Leo Bwarie explained.
Kids like 13-year-old John Meneses. His twin sister Bella loves performing and often sings the national anthem at Dodger Stadium. On the other hand, John would rather be on the crew than in the cast, and he came into the program with some experience under his belt.
"All I've done is just worked on the spotlight for school plays," he said, "and worked on lights, but very little bit about that."
It was enough of a taste to leave him hungry for more.
GMT Teen Tech allows John to work on a real-world production with professionals like sound director Robert Ramirez, who mainly works on TV and movies. He says that theater is more of a side job, but he tries to do it whenever he can.
"I miss it if I don't work on it constantly," Ramirez admitted. "So, I do this kind of thing more for the love of it."
He first got interested in sound when he was about John's age, but that was before the internet put knowledge at our fingertips.
Instead, Ramirez would spend hours studying gear in magazines and wishing there was somewhere he could learn more — a program, in fact, like this one.
"They didn't really have that kind of thing, or I never found something like that," Ramirez recalled, "and I would have been ecstatic to have that opportunity."
The students spend time with designers in each department. They don't just observe; they get hands-on experience. They've painted flats, made props, and programmed cues, and maybe one of the sliders on the soundboard will open the door to a future career.
John is considering it.
"I still don't know if I want to do this later on in my life," he said, "but I think it's very interesting."
And it's that budding interest that Bwarie is trying to nurture.
Looking at them, he says he sees a version of his young self, growing up in Sherman Oaks, knowing he loved entertainment and wondering where his place was.
Since then, he's done it all, from performing on Broadway in "Jersey Boys" to running the Garry Marshall Theater, where he is co-directing the musical he co-wrote.
He wants the kids in this first class of GMT Teen Tech to know there's more than just a place for them in the theater. There's a need.
"The number one thing for a theater for me, and for I think what Garry's mission was, was community," Bwarie said. "And so whether it's bringing people together as artists to perform or bringing people together to be technicians and designers and be part of the entire process, it's about knowing that you have a place to be with others and create something for others to benefit from."
He plans to run GMT Teen Tech for each theater production, welcoming a new crop of students. Whether they grow into a future workforce or more informed and eager theatergoers, both are necessary for the industry's future.