Let’s Hear It For The Teenager by Rick Bergmann

The headline in the Beltsville news read “Rec Council Forming Teen Theater.” That was it, 5 words announced the arrival of a teen theater that had come before it. It sought to incorporate teens in all facets of theater, not just on stage but behind the scenes as well. PGSTT has never been afraid of its core participants, TEENAGERS!!! Teenagers are the pride and joy of PGSTT, we would be nowhere without them. Throughout its 42 years of history our program has embraced the idea of the teenager. We have strived to do shows that often appeal to the idea of the teenager. Shows such as Grease, West Side Story, Bye Bye Birdie, and the upcoming Footloose all speak to the idea of being a teenager in different periods in time. We have seen over 2500 teenagers come through our program and each one of them has shown a talent and interest in the arts that have made the world around them a little better. In a time when schools are cutting funds to arts programs and many schools don’t have the resources to fund theater programs we often give a teenager their only chance to show what they can do. My favorite type of participant is the shy child who comes to our program because they always wanted to try to be in a play but didn’t know how. They show up at auditions and don’t have a song to sing, they are shy and awkward in the beginning but after 8 to 10 weeks of rehearsal they command the stage. I can recall teenagers who have shown up and asked if they could turn towards the wall to sing their audition song because they were nervous, or ones who asked if they could close their eyes or sit down and sing. We have seen many males come through who swore they couldn’t dance but by the end of production were burning up the stage with their dance moves. It is a great pleasure working with teenagers and watching them often portray characters well beyond their years. They bring a freshness and boldness that is sometimes lacking in Community Theater. So let us salute the teenagers, because without them, there would be no PGSTT.