We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Nora Paine a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Nora, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

Hands down, the most meaningful, magical project I work on is Penguin Project. Penguin Project is a theatre program for children and young adults with special needs. Each year, I have the joy and privilege of working with 50 artists with special needs and their mentors on a musical.

In 2018, I was a theater management conference in Venice, Florida when I heard about the Penguin Project. I am a mom of four kids with special needs, and my ears perked up. My children have been able to be involved with theater one and off the stage due to my involvement, but even with that it was a struggle. Auditions are so hard for kiddos with special needs— you have to memorize an audition piece, dance for a dance audition, and read for cold readings. All of this before you have experience on stage. I had looked for options in the past that could get kiddos like mine over that initial audition hump and into getting the experience that they wanted.

Penguin Project was the answer! First, there are no auditions– only learning and fun. The artistic team takes several rehearsals to get to know the artists and their mentors and works to match each artist with the perfect part and each mentor with the perfect artist. The mentors are really the cornerstone and what makes Penguin Project work so well. They provide help and encouragement through the whole rehearsal and performance process— but most of all, they are there to have fun and be friends.

Over the past four years, I have seen the magic and miracles of Penguin Project happen before my very eyes each year, and I can’t wait for 2023’s Penguin Project production of Beauty and the Beast Jr!

Nora, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Looking back, I think I have been on this path to work with people with special needs in theater for a long time. In high school, i volunteered with a group home for adults with special needs. I planned birthday parties and Christmas events and several times a week would do different activities in the home– things like fun dinner prep, laundry time, and cleaning.

During my first two weeks of college, I was asked to be the student technical director in the theatre department. Although I had run sound and light boards in high school, I had never teched a show– I was a band kid. I jumped in both feet and within 8 weeks, I had produced my first show- The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie. In my four years of college, I produced or stage managed 16 shows, including two at a local community theater.

In my senior year of college, I was looking at what I wanted to do after college. I was a psychology major with a minor in theater and in Family Studies– so some graduate school was probably going to be needed. I narrowed it down to a professional stage manager, a librarian, and a Montessori teacher. After an internship at a local Montessori school, I dove into a Montessori graduate program at Loyola College of Maryland.

After we moved to Tampa and the birth of our third child in 2008, I reached out to the local theaters to see if anyone needed a stage manager. Doug Wall from New Tampa Players answered my email, and I staged managed “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” in the fall of 2008. Over the past 14 years, I have worked on over 40 productions as a stage manager, a production manager, and a director.

All of the little paths have come together at the right time to help me find what I love to do— share my joy and knowledge of theater with everyone, especially our young artists and peer mentors in Penguin Project.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of Penguin Project is watching their faces light up on opening night when they realize that there are hundreds of people in the audience who are behind them, cheering them on. It is magic to have that many people in your corner, and it shines through.

: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

What drives me is building community around theater for everyone, regardless of their experience or skill. Community theater is all about working together to create. That collaboration is the magic.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.newtampaplayers.org

Image Credits
James Cass of Picture This of Palma Ceia