We were lucky to catch up with Miles McMahon recently and have shared our conversation below.
Miles, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
Since I started Theatre of the Imagination in 1998, I’ve had many opportunities to work with amazing young people. One of the most inspiring was a young woman named Haley.
Haley has Cerebral Palsy and is very dependent on assistance to feed herself, get dressed and move around. But Haley has a fiercely independent spirit, and does not let anything slow her down.
When she came to our summer drama camp, she got the role of Juliet in our production of Romeo and Juliet. She learned her lines before anyone else, and gave an amazing performance. The audience was in tears when she uttered those famous lines “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo’.
Seeing Haley’s determination and love of life was truly an inspiration. She never lets anything get in her way. I feel very lucky that I get to work with kids like Haley and countless other inspiring young performers.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I started Theatre of the Imagination to bring the performing arts to children in a new way. All of the plays are originals, written by myself and designed for each individual class. I tailor roles to each student’s personality and reading level. It is my goal to give every young performer a great part in a fun play that they can enjoy and embrace.
Too often in children’s theaters, everyone must audition for a role. What advantage does it serve for a young performer who has never acted before to have to memorize and perform a 1-2 minute speech in front of strangers? Also, if a play only has 3-4 good roles, and the rest are bit parts, how does that best serve the group as a whole?
I decided to create a new form of drama. No auditions, no leads, everyone gets an equal-sized role. To date I have written, produced and directed over 150 plays, with many more in the works.
Our plays have fun and wacky titles such as “Entaco! We don’t TACO ’bout burritos”, “Space Warriors: Episode 77-The Force of Bacon”, “America’s Next Top Project Surviving Runway Supermodel” and more.
Seeing our young actors and actresses shining on stage gives me an immense sense of pride.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
The best thing we can do to support the arts is keep going to live theater, dance, and music performances. Buy art from local artists. Donate to local theaters. Follow them on social media, liking and sharing the content with friends. Buy gift certificates for the performing arts and give them as gifts.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
Here is something many who are not in the arts don’t understand.
Sports funding for schools, particularly high schools, is usually the top priority when it comes to extra-curricular activities.
Performing Arts funding for schools is often the first thing cut when budgets shrink.
The age-old debate of sports versus the performing arts.
In the working world, which do we use more? Sports or the performing arts?
At your job, how many field goals did you kick last month?
How many times did you dunk?
How many home runs must you hit in order to meet your monthly quota?
Now ask yourself, at your job have you ever had to communicate with a co-worker? Communication is the key to the performing arts.
Have you ever had to think on your feet quickly to satisfy a client? Improvisation is something everyone who studies acting learns.
How many times have you had to broker a disagreement between groups, attempting to get everyone to comprise? Reading social cues, using your active listening skills, conveying a sense of empathy are all tools that performers work on day after day.
When you invest in the performing arts, you help develop improved self-esteem and self-confidence in young people.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dramakc.com
- Instagram: theatreoftheimaginationkc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheatreoftheImagination/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/theatre-of-the-imagination/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheatreoftheImagination
Image Credits
I took all of these pictures