Proud Production Special Education, Drama Club Students Put On A Show

Loren Imus is the stage hand, director and No. 1 fan of his troupe of junior high actors.

“Are we ready back here, guys?” he says, straightening one student’s nylon potato costume. “Show time!”

The actors are a study in concentration, tramping onto the stage as if it were a burning house and they were firefighters.

“One potato, two potato, three potato, four,” starts the canned music.

Five months of practice is forgotten. The tallest spud raises his arms like a tree. The shortest hugs herself, then squats inside the tan nylon sack that is her costume.

Imus, a special education teacher at Evergreen Junior High, cannot be more pleased. “Kaddywompas,” a 10-act stage show, isn’t about choreography, but understanding and trust and self-esteem.

The eight actors - some with Down syndrome, others who are autistic, mute or have multiple disabilities - are beaming before a lunch-room crowd of about 200 other students. Wednesday’s audience includes kids from regular Evergreen classrooms, as well as special education students from other Central Valley schools.

The actors are cheered by the audience, and hugged by the Evergreen drama club members who lead them through dance routines.

“He’s so cute,” says a ninth-grade girl when Scott Nelson takes the microphone to sing “Oh, Suzanna.” Audience members add their voices to Nelson’s baritone.

Later, Spencer Worden punches out “The Farmer In the Dell” on a piano. The audience cheers.

This is the fifth year Imus has used a stage show to build confidence among teenagers growing up with disabilities.

Students who have been in all five shows help younger classmates learn routines. This year, that means singing and dancing (sometimes while riding stick horses), and performing puppet shows and shadow dramas.

Imus’ students aren’t the only ones who benefit.

Some drama club members say they were uncomfortable or even scared when they joined “Kaddywompas” rehearsals about three weeks ago.

Now, they better understand the needs and abilities of people with disabilities.

“They’re teaching me to be more assertive because you have to be firm with them,” says club member Christina York, 14.

“I made a lot of friends in that class,” says Katrina Shurtlieff, 15.

Elham Simmons, 14, says there is less bickering and criticism backstage during “Kaddywompas” performances than there is when the club produces a play.

“The stuff we do in drama club is kind of corny,” she says. “But here, it’s all right to be corny. You feel like you’re doing it for a good purpose.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: STAGE SHOW Special education students and drama club members at Evergreen Junior High, 14221 E. 16th, will perform their 10-act stage show at 7 tonight. The show lasts about an hour.