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Valley Youth Theatre brings kids' pandemic stories to the stage

By Katherine Davis-Young
Published: Friday, February 25, 2022 - 4:55am
Updated: Friday, February 25, 2022 - 8:09am

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Dear 2020! opens February 25 and runs each weekend until March 13. For more information, visit www.vyt.com
Valley Youth Theatre
Valley Youth Theatre returns from a two-year in-person hiatus with Dear 2020!

In the first scene of Valley Youth Theatre’s original production, “Dear 2020!,” 15 young performers sit at school desks lined up in rows. But the stage quickly gets rearranged. Suddenly, what looked like a normal classroom, appears to take on the shape of a huge roller coaster. For these kids, that’s really how the year 2020 felt.

"My science teacher even assured us it was a minor problem that wouldn't affect us over here in America. 'Trust me,' he said. And I did," one performer says. 

"My friends I saw every week were just gone," says another.

"I romanticized this whole online school thing," says another. "It was really difficult." 

Bobb Cooper is the longtime artistic director of Valley Youth Theatre. He said the onset of the pandemic was a shock for the Phoenix performing arts nonprofit. The season’s performances got canceled and acting classes got moved to Zoom. Talking to students on video calls in the spring of 2020, Cooper said he could tell kids were feeling really lost as Arizona entered COVID-19 lockdown.

“We really didn’t have anything to rehearse for, so we just talked," Cooper said. "At that time, their proms were being canceled, their graduations were being canceled, they weren’t going to school." 

Cooper said the kids’ discussions became really thoughtful. They talked not just about lost opportunities and lost relationships, but also silver linings like new pets and new hobbies. He said he realized all of those ups and downs were worth documenting.

“We helped them take their thoughts, their ideas and devise them into monologues," Cooper said. 

Then in 2021, the theater was awarded a grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts. They used the funding to help turn those pandemic monologues into a full-length show. Their original production, "Dear 2020!" opens Friday and runs through March 13. 

Valley Youth Theatre
Katherine Davis-Young/KJZZ
Young performers rehearse for Valley Youth Theatre's production, "Dear 2020!"

Madolyn Whitmer, the theater’s education and outreach director, helped piece the collection of personal stories together into the cohesive script that the young writers are now preparing to perform.

“It’s funny because they’re not acting," Whitmer said. "They’re just saying their truth. And seeing that in some ways is even more meaningful than watching a piece of theater where they’ve memorized their lines, because they’re really just telling what happened to them."

For many of the performers, this was their first attempt at playwriting.

“I mention a lot that it was like, unpredictable. You really did not know at all what was going to happen," said 9-year-old Chloe Minaker.

The experience that sticks out to her about the pandemic has been going to elementary school online.

“It was really weird because my teacher that I had online actually quit," Minaker said. 

Minaker is glad to be back to school in person now, because she said, those early days of the pandemic were really hard. Online school is a common theme in the play. But the script covers other big challenges of the pandemic, too.

“I talk about facing racism," said 14-year-old Savannah LeNguyen. For her, COVID-19 came with a torrent of anti-Asian hate. “I was sent messages online just telling me to like, go back to my country." 

LeNguyen said she hasn’t shared that experience with many people before but something about talking about it on stage feels empowering.

Seventeen-year-old Shaylee Flanagan said participating in this play helped her process some painful experiences, too.

“Not even my family really knew how depressed I was," Flanagan said, "But being able to get that off my chest and know that other people were in those same shoes as me really helped me cope in a sense." 

Valley Youth Theatre
Katherine Davis-Young/KJZZ
Valley Youth Theatre artistic director, Bobb Cooper leads a rehearsal for the pandemic-themed play, "Dear 2020!"

The pandemic has been lonely and isolating for so many kids. But Valley Youth Theatre performers say sharing those common experiences is really comforting.

Whitmer wants viewers to feel that, too.

“We really hope there will be kiddos out in the audience who will see it and be like, ‘wow, that’s my story too and I’m so glad someone else said it,’” Whitmer said. 

In past seasons, Valley Youth Theatre has staged “A Winnie the Pooh Christmas,” “Shrek” and “Charlotte’s Web.” This original production will be a big departure from the type of show the theater is known for. But Cooper said he’s excited for a project that showcases the young performers’ own, true words.

“I’ve been here 26 years. And it’s one of the most incredible things that I’ve been a part of,” Cooper said.  

Kids aren’t always listened to, Cooper said, and after a difficult two years, their stories deserve to be heard.

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