May Jones

I absolutely cannot say enough about how impressed I am with KJK Productions. My daughter did theater camp with them for the first time this summer, and was in their production of The Little Mermaid. This was her first, real, full-length theater production, and her first experience being in multiple scenes. She had a hiccup (which is as it goes in show business), with not getting fully changed in time, throwing her for a loop and causing her to forget her lines. She made it on stage, but was so embarrassed that she was barely keeping back the tears. But she found some iron in her soul, rolled with the emotion, and found the grit to finish. I was so proud of her, but what blew me away was the way in which the KJK staff handled her. With a full production going on around them, her head counselor found me during intermission, invited me backstage to speak with her, and let me know what had happened (all while managing her own production responsibilities). In the few moments I spent backstage and after the show, I watched these amazing kids, cast mates of hers and fellow community members, approach her with empathy and concern. They offered her comfort and encouragement, and not a single one was blaming. After the show, to my surprise, KJK staff quietly orchestrated a re-shoot of the scene, so that she would appear in the video of the production as she was meant to have looked the first time. CITs, production staff, even other parents, gave her encouragement on the way out. What could have crushed the love of theatre out of a sensitive little girl instead became a living lesson in empathy and communal support. She learned a very essential message about show business and saw this as an experience that gives her more information for next time. The fact that she left with her head held high and her spirits up is testament to how carefully this was managed, in the most high-stress environment of a live production by some very attuned people. You cannot do that unless you are very professional and very compassionate about the psyches of the children you work with. They earned my complete respect and profound gratitude tonight, for what they did for my child. If you are at all thinking about children's theatre, please try their program. They are absolutely exceptional.