Rock Hill theater company takes ‘family entertainment’ literally in its newest production
“The Family that Kicks Together Sticks Together” is the motto of a theater production put on by Rock Hill’s Showtime Theatre Company.
More than 15 families, in various forms, are in the cast of “Matilda The Musical,” with members ranging in age from 9 years to adults. Mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, fathers and daughters, and sisters and brothers are helping tell the story.
Based on the Roald Dahl book “Matilda,” the show is about a little girl who uses her telekinetic powers to overcome adversity and protect her friends from a vicious school headmistress.
The Matilda company grew into a cast of families through children and parents wanting to be involved together in an extracurricular activity.
“It can be a little daunting. You think, ‘could I ever step back into this?’ or ‘could I ever do this again?” says Leah Barrett, a Fort Mill mother.
“The whole Showtime community is so welcoming, so even if you’re not as amazingly skilled as all these amazing kids are, and these beautiful adults who’ve sung their whole lives, it doesn’t matter because you show up here, and everyone teaches you what you need to know,” she said. “There’s a place for you here, no matter what your skill level is.”
Families in the Rock Hill region who are interested in theater can find a place at Showtime.
“Showtime doesn’t just do musicals. They do summer camps and classes for children and adults, so that can be a great place to start and get a glimpse into dance, voice, acting, improv, music, there’s so many areas,” Barrett said.
Drew Robinson said the show has given him the chance to participate in an activity alongside his daughter, Laura Rae.
“Being a dad, a lot of times you do sports with sons and that kind of stuff, it’s hard to find a daughter thing to do, so this has been my way of branching out and doing something fun with her that she enjoys,” he said.
Sam Clowney is performing with his daughter, Kennedy.
“I’ve really enjoyed spending this time with her, and it’s been great having other parents around too,” Clowney said.
Carly Hovestadt has been involved in multiple stage productions, and her dad, Billy, participated behind the scenes. Carly encouraged her dad to go on stage.
“I told him that he should do it, and he was really against it,” she said. “And then, I told him it would be fun and he should just try it out once, and it’s been really cool seeing how he’s started to love it and make friends from it.”
Megan Forte and her daughter Carmen Rose have explored what they say is a particularly fun dynamic on stage: playing adversarial characters.
“We have a lot of scenes together,” Carmen Rose said. “When we first started learning it, I’d always laugh because it was so funny for her to be mean to me, and that’s not normal.”
In at least one case, performing is a family tradition.
“Every single one of my siblings -- there’s five of us -- have been a part of Showtime, and my mom,” said Elise Petty, who is performing in the production with her sister Jordyn.
Director and Showtime co-founder Jennifer Read said she loves shows where the cast is made up of family members.
“For the parents, it’s an eye-opener to see how hard their kids are working backstage,” Read said. “The kids can see positive examples coming from the parents and the parents can see the growth in their kids.”
The Showtime community has taken individual families and turned them into a single group performers.
“The most common phrase that we hear amongst all of us is ‘I’ve found my people,’” says Rob Read, Jennifer’s husband and the production’s technical director.
The cast and crew have been working months to prepare the show.
“The cast has rehearsed since March, two rehearsals a week, and a couple times more than that,” Jennifer Read said. “I would say 400, 500 hours of work goes into getting everything set up so it becomes show-worthy.”
Want to go?
Matilda The Musical will run at Johnson Hall at Winthrop until July 23. Tickets are on sale now on the Showtime Theatre website. Shows are on July 21 at 7 p.m., July 22 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., and July 23 a 1 p.m.
