Colleen McCarrick is only 18, but she already has big dreams of helping people through theatre. At the age 12, the Myersville native started Kids’ Theatre, run entirely by those 18 and younger.
The summer program, which raises money for charity, has grown every year since, and McCarrick, a June graduate of Middletown High School, hopes that after college she can make it an even larger operation.
‘‘My dream is someday maybe to open Kids’ Theatre as an afterschool program for disadvantaged or underprivileged students who wouldn’t otherwise get the chance to be involved with theatre,” she explained this week.
On Aug. 8, the group will stage a production of ‘‘Enchanted Sleeping Beauty” to raise money to purchase a specially made $3,000 bicycle for Mike DeLoach, 18, of Myersville, who ‘‘has a lot of orthopedic issues,” according to his mother, Danielle.
‘‘He doesn’t walk a lot so he’s getting the bike to be able to exercise without a lot of pressure on his legs. It’s for therapeutic purposes for him and for fun,” she said. ‘‘It means a lot that someone would approach us and do something just for him. We were very touched by the offer, more than I can put into words.”
McCarrick, who lives in the Meadowridge subdivision, said that the service aspect of the group is a natural outgrowth of members’ close-knit ties and strong friendships.
‘‘When we were little we’d always put on plays for our parents in the house and I loved organizing people and directing people, and everyone in our neighborhood is really close, so one summer we decided to do ‘The Wizard of Oz’,” McCarrick said. ‘‘Every summer it got bigger, and more professional, and we realized that everyone had so much talent and that we really could make a difference in the community.”
This year marks the sixth anniversary of the outfit’s first show, ‘‘The Wizard of Oz,” at the Doub’s Meadow Park pavilion in Myersville. The selection this year, ‘‘Enchanted Sleeping Beauty,” will be put on for the first time in the Middletown High School auditorium.
‘‘‘Enchanted Sleeping Beauty’ is a little bit different than Disney’s Sleeping Beauty,” McCarrick explained. ‘‘There are a lot of different characters in this play – of course the beautiful Sleeping Beauty and her prince who comes to save her, but there are also comical characters such as the Queen and her secretary, Quill, and then, of course, Evilina, the bad witch, and her sidekicks, the spider and the cat.”
Instead of selling tickets for the performance, McCarrick said the group will accept donations and ‘‘every cent raised” will go toward purchasing the bike for DeLoach.
In order to fund the production this year, McCarrick said she and other members of Kids’ Theatre sent letters to local businesses asking for donations, to which they responded very ‘‘graciously,” sending them enough money to purchase supplies such as props, scenery and costumes, and to pay copyright fees.
McCarrick will pursue a degree at McDaniel College this fall where she will major in business or journalism, she said.
