“You’ll believe a man can fly.”
These words adorned the movie poster for 1978’s “Superman” and became one of the most iconic taglines in cinema history, largely because the film delivered on that premise of taking audiences on a breathtaking magical adventure.
Central Wisconsin Children’s Theatre is taking this same approach, both literally and figuratively, in its production of the beloved classic “Mary Poppins,” which opens Thursday, June 18, at the Veninga Theater in Wausau, where the two lead actors will soar above the stage in moments of pure theater magic.
Professional rigging and flying actors is a level of spectacle rarely seen at the community theater level, much less children’s theater. It’s all part of an ambitious drive by director Brenton Kniess, who chose this show for its complexity. In staging “Mary Poppins,” Kniess sought to provide local youth with a challenging production that would better highlight their talents. “Mary Poppins” presents acting, choreography, singing and technical challenges not often tackled by youth theater productions.
“With ‘Mary Poppins’ you expect to see all the bells and whistles, and within this production we have all the bells and whistles. All the magic — we have a live pit orchestra and we have flying — everything you expect to see in ‘Mary Poppins’ is what we’re bringing to the stage,” Kniess said. “It doesn’t matter that it’s children’s theater — it’s good theater. I want people to understand that the youth in the community can achieve a lot when they’re challenged with a show like this.”
For the two actors who take flight — Cayley Gosney as Mary and Drake Hoffman as Bert — it was both an empowering experience and a dream come true. For Gosney, this show has given her special training and a validating experience as she prepares to pursue a BFA in musical theater at Point Park University in Pennsylvania.
“Having a technical opportunity like this can make more experiences in the future feel less scary," she said. "It’s always really nervous when you do something for the first time. I think if I had been flying somewhere else for the first time I would have been a lot more nervous than I was the other day because I was surrounded by people who I knew and I could crack jokes with and I feel safe when flying, but I knew the people who were flying me and I think there was a safety and a community with them that’s given me the confidence now to do anything.”
Fear wasn’t so much a part of Hoffman’s experience, as flying on stage has been a lifelong ambition.
“I was really excited,” Hoffman said. “I’ve always wanted to do some sort of flying rig, ever since I was young. It’s just one of those small things that’s theater magic I’ve always seen in shows. I also love the technical side of theater, so it’s really cool also to learn how it’s done.”
Navigating the intense technical timing of flying actors, moving set-pieces and live music isn’t just a challenge for the cast of 63 youth actors. The production involves dozens of additional local crew members and musicians who work tirelessly to create magical illusions on stage well beyond the miracle of flight. Chief among these artists is Kniess, a graduate of UW-Stevens Point’s theater program, who manages all the colorful chaos into a cohesive and entertaining vision. This is the eighth show Kniess has directed, his second for CWCT, and he is still learning things from working with the cast and crew.
“When you’re a director you have to learn different languages from everyone,” he said. “Everyone learns a different way and everyone processes stuff differently, so you have to truly listen and engage with every single performer in the show and be able to accommodate them and show them how a show gets put together. It is a very daunting task and to me this is the most challenging show I’ve ever directed, no question. But being able to communicate with everyone, to have them learn something new, that’s the joy I get out of this.”
Beneath all the spectacle of this production is a beloved, time-honored tale about family, responsibility and resilience, brought to life by an impressive cast of local actors ages 8-18.
“The true magic in this show is the emotional elements — being able to work with the actors to find that emotional core, assisted by those technical elements, to make the show look grand but also have the audience feel something as well,” Kniess said.
With the safety and well-being of two young actors in mind, it was paramount for CWCT to seek out a reputable and revered partner to set up the flying rig and train the cast and crew. They went with On the Fly, a St. Louis-based production company with a national footprint.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re on the ground or up in the air, whenever you’re connected to that harness safety is the number one priority,” Kniess said. “We’re taking the time during our tech week to really nail down not only the choreography of the flying but also making sure the actors and the flying team feel confident every single time they do it. That’s our main priority: making sure everyone feels comfortable and confident in the motions.”
Last weekend, Gosney and Hoffman entered their harnesses for the first time, less than a week before opening night, to train and get accustomed to the rigs that would lift them to the ceiling of Veninga Theater in a few days’ time.
The actors and the pulley crew trained with the On the Fly instructor for three long days. They started with harness safety, moved up to being lifted a few inches off the ground and eventually graduating to dizzying heights and dazzling choreography.
“They took us through the one-inch test for the first time before you do anything, they just lift you off the ground,” Hoffman said.
“It’s so interesting to feel your weight get taken off,” Gosney said. “The moment they clip you in, the cables just kind of take your weight. When they start picking me up I feel light as a feather. Then they put you back down and, whoa, you can feel your weight again as soon as you’re unclipped.”
For safety reasons, Gosney has to wear the bulky harness under her costume the entire show, which presents additional singing and acting challenges.
“It makes singing a lot harder and restricting,” she said. “It’s so heavy and you’re not used to weight on your shoulders physically. I’ve been doing it a few days now and it’s not terribly awful, but it’s definitely a challenge.”
For Hoffman, flying is closely tied to more complex choreography and music — which is all performed live. Everything needs to be timed precisely for the illusion to come to life.
“Some of my cues — and also cues for the pulley operators — are in the music, so if anything ever happens, I can’t fly. That’s the reality of it,” he said. “If the music stops or if someone stops singing, the operators aren’t doing it. It’s kind of stressful knowing that something could happen — and there’s so many things, especially with 26 kids on stage during that number. It’s like: everyone please pay attention, you know?”
It’s an exciting sendoff for Gosney and Hoffman, two veteran performers in the local youth theater scene who graduated high school this spring.
“This is my last show in the Wausau area before I move to Pennsylvania for college and it’s very bittersweet to watch all the excitement and nerves from these little people that are so excited to be here,” Gosney said. “I love this show and I just want this to be the best that it can possibly be.”
That excitement from the younger cast members is exactly what the production team hoped to inspire. By watching their peers literally take to the skies, the next generation of Wausau actors is learning that local theater doesn’t have to be limited by its zip code. For Kneiss, empowering both the cast and the community to dream a little bigger was the ultimate goal all along.
“What can a theater in northcentral Wisconsin do to make something look Broadway quality?” Kniess said. “We wanted to show something that’s on a much larger scale that you don’t see every day in a theater. That’s kind of the message we want to send — that anything is possible within theater.”
“Mary Poppins” will be performed June 18-20 at 7 p.m. with 2 p.m. matinees on June 20-21 at the James F. Veninga Theater in the UW Center for Civic Engagement in Wausau. Tickets are $15 for adults, $13 for youth under 18, and $13 for seniors ages 60 and older. They are available at cwct.booktix.com.
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