Broadway comes to Alabama Black Belt for kids play: ‘Brought the world to them’

TaDarius Dukes has already seen his twin daughters grow more confident just a few days into their workshop with Broadway performers in rural Alabama.

“My daughters like to sing and dance but they’re really shy,” Dukes told AL.com. “Coming here, I see them coming out of their shells a little bit. They see just how confident these performers are and that to be successful in their world, where competition is fierce, you have to be confident in whatever you’re doing.”

Zara Aina is a New York-based theater nonprofit that works “to help at-risk children recognize their potential.” The organization sent a group of Broadway artists and two performers from Madagascar to Wilcox County this week to put on a show with more than 80 kids.

The organization partnered with BAMA Kids, a nonprofit in the Alabama Black Belt that provides programs to kids in the community. Together, they’ll put on a free show for the public on Sunday evening in Camden.

Sheryl Threadgill, the executive director of BAMA Kids, told AL.com that there aren’t many things for kids to do in Wilcox County when they’re out of school.

There’s no county summer jobs program this year, she said, and there’s a lack of other recreational activities for kids. So kids, ranging from ages 3 to 15, were quick to enroll in the theater workshop.

Only four days in, Threadgill has already seen the impact.

“We’re seeing a lot of inhibitions go away, their communications skills have improved. We’ve just seen so much in how they articulate and how they respond,” she said.

“These artists take the time out of their schedules and out of their careers to spend time with and value children in the Black Belt. It makes us all feel really special.”

‘Brought the world to them’

Zara Aina has partnered with BAMA Kids since 2012 thanks to a connection by Kate Schutt, a singer-songwriter who used to volunteer with the nonprofit.

The first show ever put on was about an African folktale. This year’s show will be about “unity, solidarity and Alabama and Madagascar coming together,” said Justin Cimino, Zara Aina’s artistic director.

During the workshop, kids wrote songs connecting the two places:

“Madagascar’s hot, Alabama’s too. I wear my Crocs outside and my bathing suit too.”

Some kids learned to play African drums to accompany the singers, while others are helping to design sets or put together a behind-the-scenes documentary.

The kids under 8 practice their underwater scene, wearing puppets of different sea creatures or waving water wands while running around the stage.

The two artists from Zara Aina in Madagascar — Louis Zo Rabearison, a dancer and program director, and Rasolofomanana Alfred Léonard, a musician, playwright and artistic director — help the kids write a song about solidarity.

“Solidarity, that’s the call. Standing strong, never let a soldier fall.”

For all of the artists, the goal is to expose kids to something different and show them what’s possible.

Shaun Taylor-Corbett, an actor who’s appeared in plays like Jersey Boys and In the Heights, drew parallels to his experience in Wilcox County and his Blackfeet community in Montana.

“We want to show these kids that if they want to explore becoming a professional musician or a dancer choreographer, that that is an option for them. I remember seeing people in this field that looked like me when I was younger and that inspired me to believe I could do it and I believe we can have that same impact here,” Taylor-Corbett said.

Dukes, who grew up in Wilcox County and is now a drama and chorus teacher at Jackson High School, knows not every kid going through the program will grow up to be an artist.

“But they will walk away saying they got to work with somebody from New York, from Madagascar, from Puerto Rico,” he said. “Some of these kids have never left the state and you brought the world to them.”

The free public performance of the Zara Aina and Bama Kids show will be held Sunday at 5 p.m. at the Star of Hope Building in Camden.