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11/29/2017 07:30 AM“The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.” It’s the enthusiastic mantra of Buddy the elf in the popular holiday film and it’s also pretty good advice for the hard-working cast of the Madison Art Barn’s upcoming production, Elf Jr. The Musical.
Running the show is the new director of MadBarn Productions, Lara Morton, who is excited to bring the classic Christmas movie to life on stage. Elf, starring Will Farrell, is the story of Buddy, a human who is raised as one of Santa’s elves at the North Pole. Devastated to find out his heritage, he journeys to New York City to find his family, and along the way brings the Christmas spirit back to the big city.
“Elf Jr. is a very funny, classic Broadway show with jazz hands and spirit fingers, and a brassy, big band sound,” Lara says. “I think the audience will be very surprised and impressed by what this group of children can do. The show is hilarious and joyful, and it’s full of energy, so I’m sure the audience will leave feeling uplifted.”
Led by Lara, vocal director Karen Wagner, and choreographer Danyell Boucher, the cast includes 30 children aged 5 to 15 years from Madison and shoreline towns including Guilford and Branford.
“I’m so impressed by the talent of the children we have in the cast, from the leads to the ensemble of children as young as five. There are many talented young people in this area and we are excited to bring them together at the Arts Barn, which is a shining light, a leading force in the arts on the shoreline.”
When the Madison Arts Barn put out a call for a new director who could deliver its first full on-stage production and take its theater programming to the next level, it was the perfect job for Lara. By the end of the first meeting, the team had applied for the rights to produce Elf Jr. and plans were well underway.
“I’ve joined an incredible group of people at the Arts Barn. It’s exciting to work with such a positive team, who are so dedicated. We’re all on the same page, wanting to deliver high quality programming for young people on the shoreline,” she says.
“Everything we need is right at the Arts Barn: the stage, the props, the costumes, the equipment, and great people. We just had to bring it all together and find a path to the next level.”
With a very young cast, Lara embraces the challenge of harnessing their energy and enthusiasm for the stage.
“Fun and education are not mutually exclusive. It’s a balance of keeping children focused and motivated while learning something new and having fun,” she says.
“Every moment on the stage should look effortless, but really there’s hundreds of hours of labor, love, sweat, and tears put in to make perfect. It’s just what we do in the theater and these are my people.”
An Early Start
Lara has been happily surrounded by “her people” for many years. She discovered her passion for theater as a student at Daniel Hand High School.
“When I was in high school, I loved doing the musical every year and I was always in the ensemble because I was reticent to put myself out there. I used to go to extra rehearsals to watch the director work, and that’s when I really thought about studying drama. Theater is a great place to find yourself.”
At Hartwick College and then SUNY Oneonta in New York, Lara wrote, directed, and starred in college productions, graduating with a double major in English and drama. Lara was recommended for a challenging first professional job.
“My first job straight out of college was working with the Mental Health Players in Binghamton, New York, teaching theater and improvisation to a troupe including people with mental illness and substance abuse issues, homeless people, and seniors. We presented to schools, community groups, and congressmen and senators.”
When Lara returned to the shoreline, she started her own theater troupe delivering similar real life productions on workplace sexual harassment, bullying, and teenage development, as well as a diversity training program for the Amistad program.
“Improvisation is fantastic comedic and dramatic training for actors. When you have to play 30 different people every year, you really get inside someone else’s skin,” she says. “For me, I became more confident as a teacher, guiding people through the process of finding themselves, and creating performances that were believable. I learned to love to teach.”
For the past decade, Lara’s many and varied theater jobs have included directing youth productions at Lyme-Old Lyme High School and teaching educational theater programs at the Tabor Arts Center and Ms. Judy’s Emporium (formerly Blend) in Branford.
Lara was the programming and education director of Young Audiences of Connecticut and the artistic director of Open End Theater in New Haven. Since 2010, she has served as an artist-in-residence at the West Haven Child Development Center, and in 2012, founded, directed and performed in a touring musical cabaret group called Starving Artists Tackle Broadway (SATB).
“We went strong for about three years, performing all over the state in schools, fairs, festivals, retirement facilities, Special Olympics CT, etc. We continue to reunite at least once a year for a performance on the Back Stage at the Branford Festival,” she says.
Inspired to teach, Lara worked as a drama teacher at a magnet school with an arts focus in New Haven.
“Theater is a very powerful proponent of positive change. It’s a safe space where young people can express themselves freely and they understand that they are not alone. I really believe in the power of the arts in the education system, and theater brings it all together: music, dance, visual art, design, technology,” she says.
Currently, Lara enjoys working in Madison and New Haven schools as a substitute teacher and for the past five years has also been involved on and off-stage with Madison Lyric Stage.
In the spring, Lara plans to lead acting workshops for children and an afterschool improvisation acting class for teenagers at Madison Arts Barn. There are also plans in the works for another musical production.
“I feel so strongly about theater that I’ve made it my life’s work—and the path of the arts is never easy. I’m passionate about developing a love of theater in young people and building future audiences. Theater teaches problem solving, teamwork, communication, and how to be a good citizen,” she says.
“It’s exciting to be doing all this back in my hometown and to see where we can take the Arts Barn. I think it can be a place for creative children to express themselves, build confidence, and find out who they are. It’s a safe space to have fun with their friends and make new ones, as well as learn a lot.”
Elf Jr. The Musical is on stage at the Madison Arts Barn, 8 Campus Drive, on Saturday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 9 at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets are available online: $15 for adults, $10 for children under 10 years and seniors over 65 years; visit madisonartsbarn.org. Tickets at the door are $20 for adults, $15 for children under 10 years and seniors over 65 years. Photos with Santa after the show are free. For more information, call 203-245-2689 or visit madisonartsbarn.org.