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The centennial celebration at OFS Credit: Seth Kubersky<\/p>\nThe centennial celebration at OFS Credit: Seth Kubersky<\/p>\n
In a transient town like Orlando, where anything older than a decade is practically antique, any cultural institution achieving its centenary is certainly worth celebrating. On Feb. 3, 1926, the Orlando Little Theatre Players first presented some short plays at downtown\u2019s Beacham Theater; exactly 100 years (and several name changes) later, politicians and patrons gathered earlier this month to honor Orlando Family Stage, which has evolved from those early efforts into an internationally recognized innovator of theater for young audiences.<\/p>\n
Remarkably, one person has been at OFS for almost a third of a century and seen it survive several sometimes-rocky transitions, from Central Florida Civic Theatre through Orlando Repertory Theatre to today\u2019s incarnation as Orlando Family Stage. Artistic Director Jeff Revels, who has been with the organization in all its many forms since 1995, took some time away from centennial soirees to share some memories with me, as well as his hopes for OFS\u2019 next hundred.<\/p>\n
Raised in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Revels graduated from Winthrop University and moved to Central Florida with some fraternity friends in late 1994. After a few frustrating months selling autographs in a Church Street Station shop, he was hired at the Civic as a props stagehand and box office assistant. \u201cI just studied. I asked questions of every department, and very shortly I was taking on the work of volunteer coordinator,\u201d recalls Revels, whose work coordinating field trips eventually led to leading the Civic\u2019s education department.<\/p>\n
Five years after he arrived, the Civic faced an existential crisis that Revels still remembers well. \u201cIt was a horrible, horrible time, because one by one staff members were dropping because we couldn\u2019t make payroll. \u2026 The classes and camps and shows with children were at capacity, [and] that work was funding all of the other parts of the building; then it got to an unsustainable point,\u201d says Revels. \u201cIt was a weird time in which the projects being selected on stage felt like they were more for the artists at work, without any consideration of [the] audience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Revels made the case to the Civic\u2019s board for a radical, education-centric reinvention, and credits former Mayor Glenda Hood for initially connecting them with University of Central Florida. \u201cThey started talking about, \u2018What if we develop a Masters of Fine Arts, a graduate program in Theater for Young Audiences. Then our students can do their practical work there while doing their theoretical work in the classrooms,\u2019\u201d Revels remembers of the initial conversations that led to Civic becoming The Rep. \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Absolutely, we could do that!\u2019 I had zero clue what that even meant.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Even though he never completed his own advanced degree, Revels has now worked with UCF\u2019s professors to design numerous pedagogical programs. One recent product of this partnership was the commissioned publication of 10 short plays about mental health for teenagers, coupled with a binder of interdisciplinary curriculum for teachers to safely guide their students through the sensitive topic. \u201cInstead of saying, \u2018Let\u2019s talk about mental health issues\u2019 and leaving that can of worms open, this is how to do it ethically, safely, with actual psychologists documenting and studying this work.\u201d<\/p>\n
OFS has also earned recognition for commissioning new TYA works, receiving funding support from the Shubert Foundation for their efforts to create original stories and popular adaptations that represent a diverse audience. \u201cIf we do not [support new shows] who will, or do our stories stop at a certain year?\u201d asks Revels, pointing to the newly opened Tiara\u2019s Hat Parade, a one-woman celebration of Black fashion based on Kelly Starling Lyons\u2019 storybook. With up to six new commissions in various stages of development at any given time, OFS\u2019 next big world premiere will be next weekend\u2019s Lilly and the Pirates: The Musical. John Maclay\u2019s musical adaptation of Phyllis Root\u2019s book features songs by Pulitzer Prize finalist Will Eno and Brett Ryback, who is also the production\u2019s music director.<\/p>\n
Although he jokes that some patrons still refuse to call OFS anything other than the Civic, and admits to still calling it the Rep when he\u2019s at home, Revels reveals that the 2023 rebranding has helped their classes and camps rebound to pre-pandemic enrollment. \u201cWe were never a repertory theater, ever. We didn\u2019t do shows in rep, we certainly didn\u2019t have a repertory company of actors. I felt if we could make [an] impact with the name that didn\u2019t describe us, we could make greater impact with the name that did describe us,\u201d says Revels. \u201cWe hope that the name is more wayfinding to new families for the first time, and I think that\u2019s working.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fortunately, the family-focused renaming doesn\u2019t mean OFS has abandoned their adult-oriented friends like the Orlando Fringe Festival, which utilizes several venues in their Loch Haven complex. On the contrary, Revels says they \u201cpurposely didn\u2019t seek state funding this year because there were so many strings attached that even our rentals might go against some of what they considered \u2018appropriate.\u2019 We felt that the risk was not worth it for the funding. We would rather continue serving our constituents that we currently serve, [and] we can\u2019t forsake the people who have been with us, and who we have been supporting and working with over the years.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He\u2019s consulted for theme parks and television, but Revels still calls OFS \u201cmy whole artistic home,\u201d saying \u201cthere\u2019s new dreams for this place every day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, his chief objective is to continue presenting stories that represent the entire community \u2014 regardless of what some detractors may say \u2014 while focusing on \u201cfinding the joy,\u201d in deference to the emotional challenges faced by kids.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to be seen and feel like you were seen on the stage. It\u2019s important to hear things that you agree with and things that you do not agree with, because that is what theater is the best at: showing life in other people\u2019s shoes [so] you can gain empathy,\u201d says Revels. \u201cIf our children don\u2019t get the highest-quality arts experiences, then why would they be the audience of tomorrow?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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