Treated Like Stars

It is a rousing performance of “The Ugly Duckling,” and 14 children on stage here for the first time are proving their grace.

A 10-year-old named Danny, the designated “duckling” in this song-and-dance revue, has the microphone and the spotlight. Behind him a chorus of quacking classmates sings, “You’re a very fine swan indeed.”

“Why it’s me,” Danny says, keen to the revelation. “I am a swan indeed.”

The audience of 120 claps and cheers. Another group of budding artists, showing more ability than disability, has triumphed at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

This is the sixth year of “Summer at The Center,” an annual program that introduces music, dance and theater to Orange County special-education students and teenagers whom educators are struggling to keep in high school.

The goal is to build the confidence of kids who have little or no experience expressing themselves through performing arts. Organizers credit Maurice Allard, the late former director of Master Chorale of Orange County, for envisioning the program.

It’s an unusual idea, said Troy Botello, manager of education at the arts center, and it seems to be working. The arts center donates its primary rehearsal stage at Founders Hall, while professionals in choreography, music and arts production work with the children in intensive weeklong seminars as they develop a musical revue. Private donors and foundations cover expenses, with coordinating help from the Orange County Department of Education.

“I’m not aware of any other programs like this that are operated by a performing arts center,” said Botello, who is also an experienced special-education teacher. “Having this kind of world-class facility, and bringing in professionals in the field, is a unique experience.”

With art, music and dance instruction often in short supply in public schools, such experiences are all the more valuable.

Four groups of special-education students, from Fountain Valley, Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Anaheim, have gone through the program in previous years.

Teenagers from the county’s alternative school system, many of whom might otherwise be finding trouble on the streets, have also benefited from the onstage experience.

Botello said a few have even caught the eye of television talent scouts or enrolled in prestigious arts institutes. Nearly all, he said, have graduated. Next month, a high school ensemble will give three public performances of a revue called “So You Want to Be in Show Biz?”

(Admission to the show at Founders Hall is free, but space is limited. Call (714) 556-2122, Ext. 236, to reserve seats. Performances are scheduled Aug. 1 at 7 p.m. and Aug. 2 at 2 and 5 p.m.)

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On Friday, the cast members in afternoon and evening shows were 14 special-education students, age 6 to 13, from the Kaiser Primary Center in Costa Mesa. Some were in wheelchairs, others in leg braces. All had severe physical or learning disabilities.

Yet all had shown growth after just five days of rehearsals, according to their teacher, Tracy Scofield, and artistic director Cynthia McGarity.

Danny was the show-stopper. Tawny and Andrea found their voices. Tunanzhy danced. Alan hammed it up in a skit called “The King’s New Clothes.” Henry performed as himself and as “Oliver.” And Don, Daryl, Johnny, Sofia, Jeremy, James and the two Michaels all contributed.

The kids learned how to stretch their voices to piano accompaniment, letting their breath resonate from their chest and their head and points in between.

They learned how to introduce themselves with a microphone, one at a time. For example: “My name is Andrea. I’m 13, and I like carrot cake.”

They learned how to exercise isolated muscles of their body, and they picked up some French ballet terms, like the “plie,” a bend of the knees, and “releve,” an upward stretch on the toes.

And they clowned around, tossing crumpled newspapers to the Sesame Street song “Trash!” and squeezing familiar yellow toys for the tune “Rubber Duckie!”

Scofield said that some students had been particularly quiet and withdrawn before the rehearsals began, but “by the end of the week, they were asking to do solo parts. They’ve been so uninhibited.”

Said McGarity: “A lot of it is just believing that they aren’t limited, and that they have a special gift inside them to share--even if it’s just a great smile.”

The audience walked out of the show beaming too.

“It’s wonderful that the children have a chance to shine,” said Susan Strader, an arts center supporter from Corona del Mar. “Here, they have a chance to be stars for a week.”