Today we’d like to introduce you to Miles McMahon.
Hi Miles, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Theatre of the Imagination is happy to be celebrating our 25th anniversary! We started as an after school drama program at an elementary school in Brookside. Hoping to get 5-10 kids, we were surprised when 28 showed up! We split into equal sized groups on different days, so everyone could get a lot of attention.
When looking for plays, Director Miles McMahon could not find any that truly engaged the kids. So he wrote a show with roles specifically designed to each student. There was the hero, the crazy sidekick, evil bad guys, pop star diva, and more.
Soon other schools showed interest and the programs grew. Then came our first summer camp at the old Alana Theater in Brookside, Saturday classes, birthday parties, drama workshops and more. What began as a side project evolved into a full-time kid’s drama company.
But the focus was never on expansion, but rather always on attention to the kids. One of our first students were two young performers, Jonathan and Taylor. Jonathan was very shy and reserved while Taylor was a 30 year old comedian in a 7 year old brain! Our show was Christmas themed, so we wrote Jonathan the role of Santa, but he got to sleepwalk the entire time. He liked to be on stage, but did not want to talk his first time out. Taylor was Mrs Claus, and had many funny bits and speeches, and was memorized after the first day!
The Christmas show was a hit, giving both students the outlet they each needed. As time went on Jonathan got more and more confident, while Taylor was challenged by the parts we wrote for her. Now years later Jonathan works in marketing for the Kansas City Royals and Taylor writes for “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” on HBO, where she just won her fourth Emmy award!
In the past twenty five years we have seen over 15,000 students come through our doors. From shy to outgoing, every student gets the care and attention they need to grow and flourish on stage.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
One of the biggest struggles we have had is constantly writing new plays for our students. What many people don’t realize with the creative process is that for every 10 minutes of a play you see on stage, the playwright has most likely put in over 30 hours of work. And since we write plays around each group of kids we have, every show is different.
We have some plays with all 6 & 7 year olds, with parts that are easy to learn and memorize. Then we might have the same play with a different class that is all 12 & 13 year olds. In that case the entire show is rewritten to their level of performance and memorization.
We have written parts for kids who want big speeches, and others who to be part of a group but don’t like the spotlight. We had one young man who said he did not want to do any of the following things: act, sing, dance, be funny, laugh, be weird, jump, spin around, wear a costume nor have anyone look at him. When asked why he wants to do theater he replied “oh I love being on stage!”. Luckily we wrote a part for him that he loved, and he performed like a pro. (Note: he did get laughs and he ended up liking that!)
Though writing show after show is a struggle, watching the kids gain confidence on stage is well worth it. We have written over 200 plays, many with wacky titles such as “Cake Pop Dragon Donut Hunters” and “Space Warriors: The Force of Bacon”.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Director Miles McMahon studied theater for many years, first at Western Michigan University then receiving a Masters Degree at UMKC. He worked as a professional actor at many local theaters including the KC Rep, Unicorn, Coterie and Shakespeare Festival.
On TV Miles can be seen on many local commercials for Price Chopper, Garmin, Hallmark and more.
What matters most to you? Why?
What matters to us most is that every child is supported in a creative environment to build self confidence and artistic expression.
Pricing:
- $350/week for summer camps
- $155 for one day per week/five week after school classes
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.Dramakc.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theatreoftheimaginationkc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheatreoftheImagination/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheatreoftheImagination
