This year’s production at St. Robert School has made a trip all the way from Saudi Arabia with Aladdin Jr. After months of exhausting and hard working rehearsals, the cast and crew performed their first bright and colorful show of Aladdin Jr. on May 12th, 2016. Their hard working director, Karl, has spent many hours prepping and doing anything he can to make this show amazing. While Karl has done much for the show, the cast and crew has also worked very hard to make the final product interesting for the audience. The White and Blue Press went behind the scenes of the production to get an inside scoop on the production, director, and preparation for the show.

From playing roles in Mack and Mabel by Michael Stewart to William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Karl has had much experience with acting. Karl’s acting/dancing career started in his sophomore year of high school, and along the way, he has had many inspirational stars to motivate him. “[Bob Fosse] was a huge inspiration for me as I got older and started understanding dance more… Carol Burnett was a huge inspiration to me because of her comic talent and her ability to create lots of different characters…” Karl shares. After his years of acting and dancing Karl has found a new passion for sharing the art of acting with other aspiring actors. Karl explains why he started teaching kids: “I feel as if I can give this to other people to help and guide them… Sharing when you’re older is sharing life experience.” This upcoming September will mark the 28th year of Karl teaching young actors. Some of the actors that Karl has taught and currently teaches had thoughts about Karl’s techniques.

7th grader, Fiona, has worked with Karl for the last two years starring in Aladdin Jr. as Iago and State Fair as Margy Frank. Fiona has picked up on many of Karl’s techniques and has learned much from him. Fiona explains that, “Karl has taught me how to over exaggerate my character’s emotions when necessary to make it seem more realistic….” Some other tips Karl has taught to children are about projecting their voices and accepting that the show will never run perfectly smoothly. Not only does Karl give out tips, but he also shares  different ways to prepare for shows, such as the St. Robert’s now annual tradition, the costume parade. Another one of Karl’s students, David, played Sultan in Aladdin Jr., and last year he was in charge of the curtain. David comments, “I really like the costume parade because it was fun to see everyone in their costume and try on mine as well….” As shown by some of the play’s participants, Karl gives helpful theater lessons, and he will continue to share his lessons about respect and teamwork next year with the new students to come.

This experienced director has done many great things for the theater program at St. Robert School and most likely will continue. Many students at St. Robert five years from now will learn amazing teachings from Karl. St. Robert School is very blessed to have such an amazing teacher to guide their students through theater. Hopefully, lots of people got to see Aladdin Jr. because it was like a carpet ride into a whole new world!