theater Take a bow: ArtsView celebrates 10 years by Amanda Retallack Proud parents, grandparents and relatives sat in the audience beaming toward the stage in the middle of the room, taking pictures and recording video of their costumed children. It was a special dress rehearsal Friday morning for “The Princess and the Frog,” the latest production from ArtsView Children’s Theatre. The large cast of youth, along with its many audience members, on a weekday summer morning was something those who created the theater program couldn’t have imagined when they held their first audition. Now in its 10th year, however, ArtsView plays are summer staples in Longview. Back in 2002, Sandi Taylor was very active in the Longview Community Theater. She had noticed that there was a lack of opportunities for children in local productions — as a matter of fact, the closest acting venue where children could submerse themselves in year around theatrics was in Tyler. “The group over in Tyler was doing a magnificent job in their children’s theater program, but we needed to do something for the younger crowd in this area,” Taylor said. That idea paired with the constant question from parents of, “How can my children be a part of this?” made her sit up and think, Why not start a program for Longview? She called on her good friend Vickie Echols,
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and ArtsView Children’s Theatre was born. The first major production was “Alice in Wonderland.” There were 33 speaking parts in the play, and Sandi prayed that 33 children would show an interest. She never expected to see the more than 100 little smiling faces standing outside her casting room door the morning of auditions. “It was the very beginning for us,” she recalls. “ArtsView had no building, no stage; First Methodist opened its doors for us to use their facility for auditions. Once all those children showed up for the audition, I knew without a doubt we had something Longview needed.” That number has grown by leaps and bounds over the past decade. “We’ve grown from doing one show per year — no building, no staff, no money — to now doing eight shows a year,” Sandi said in amazement of the feat. “We went from having a few dozen kids at an audition to now literally hundreds of children involved within the ArtsView organization.” “We want to make sure there’s room for everyone who is interested in performing with ArtsView, so we split up our summer camps based on age group. It works out well,” she added. For example, the 6 to 7 year olds may focus on a cute, brief fairytale play lasting 15 minutes tops, while the “big kids” in their teens show off their skills in a 1 - 2 hour long drama such as “The Secret Garden” or “Little Women.”
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