In the Northwest Current:

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It’s Friday afternoon at the Sitar Arts Center’s summer musical camp, and “Bye Bye Birdie” director/producer A. Lorraine Robinson is leading a small group of teens in an early scene.

“You can be a bit more in a huff,” she tells 14-year-old Jhoselin, who’s playing Kim, the teen who wins a chance to kiss rock superstar Conrad Birdie in this 1950s satire of Elvis mania. In the scene in question, Kim is balking at boyfriend Hugo’s concerns about the impending smooch. Robinson encourages her to ham it up: “Flounce your hair, turn your back on him — make him feel bad. … He has no business doubting you,” she advises.

Soon the scene segues, as musicals so often do, into song, and Jhoselin demurs a bit before
opening up her vocal chords. It’s a classic teen moment: She seems hesitant to sing in front of the small crowd, but Robinson neither acknowledges the hesitation nor presses, and soon Jhoselin
opens up, her delicate soprano stretching to fill the room. Robinson and stage manager Lisa
Davidson join in to bolster her.

Later, talking with a reporter, Jhoselin reports that she isn’tinvolved in theater anywhere but at Sitar: “I guess it’s a safe zone thing — I feel safer here than Ido at school,” she says.

It’s clear why. The professionals and students running this afternoon camp exude enthusiasm
and confidence. Moments of teenage angst clearly arise — like when an intern insists to
Davidson, who is busy with an interview, that he needs her immediate attention to discuss
some important issues — but the production also, to a certain degree, has the vibe of a professional
endeavor. These are kids, and they’re here to have fun, but they also have an important goal:
a four-night theatrical production.

And so after Jhoselin’s scene ends, she’s sent off to practice with a voice coach, and 16-yearold
Lindsi takes the stage to work on one of her scenes as Rosie, another central “Birdie” character.
She mentions offhandedly that she’s tired, but there are no complaints when Robinson has
her repeat the scene over and over.

“Rosie’s basically the secretary of Albert, who is her boyfriend,” Lindsi explains later. “She’s really fed up with working and being his girlfriend. She wants to get married. In the middle of the show she goes a little crazy. … She gets,” Lindsi lowers her voice and giggles, “a little drunk.” This is clearly not a familiar activity to Lindsi, who is an avid churchgoer and active student at Bishop McNamara High School, where she acts, dances, cheers and runs track. Neither is the relationship with Conrad Birdie’s agent Albert: “I’m not really in the dating stage,” Lindsi explains with a shy grin.

It’s Lindsi’s fourth year in the camp, and Rosie isn’t her first major part; two years ago she was
Belle in “Beauty and the Beast.” She seems to love everything about the program — so much
that she doesn’t mind taking two buses to get from her home in Southeast to Adams Morgan
every afternoon for rehearsal. “It makes me happy to be around people,” she says.

Sitar Arts Center offers yearround arts programming, and the musical theater camp is just one of several summer options. There are 40 kids, ages 6 to 19, in the six-week session, which starts with tryouts. “Basically, everyone that auditions is cast,” says director Robinson, explaining that newer and younger kids typically end up in the chorus, and repeat performers like Lindsi get major roles.

Asked whether casting decisions are sometimes challenging for the young stars, Robinson
says they are. But that’s OK, she says: “That, we feel, is part of the education process. When we did
‘Beauty and the Beast’ … they all sort of expected to play Belle.” But over time, she says, the kids
have adjusted to the process and the expectations. Lindsi, for instance, started in the chorus and
worked her way up, as did Jhoselin and 13-year-old Amanda.

Amanda was a munchkin in “The Wiz” before getting the parts of Lucy in “You’re a Good
Man, Charlie Brown” and then Charlie Bucket in “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.” This
year she plays an intriguing character: Albert’s mom, Mrs. Peterson.

“I don’t like [Albert’s girlfriend] because she’s Hispanic,” she explains of the part. “I’m
very racist. I harass her a lot. I want Albert all to myself. I’m melodramatic.”

This list of characteristics likely found its way into Amanda’s mind thanks in part to acting coach Emily Townsend, who recently finished a master’s degree in theater history and performance at the University of Maryland. Among the many lessons she offers the Sitar kids is a character study in which they write their characters’ names at the top of a big piece of paper and then list everything they know about them.

For Amanda, some of those traits are particularly ironic. Amanda’s dad is from Ohio, but her mom is from El Salvador, so Mrs. Peterson’s racist comments can be particularly jarring. “I’m
like, ‘Wow, is this how some people really think?’” she says.

Still, she doesn’t mind exploring these feelings. “I might as well get into the mind of someone like that, so [I] can know how to deal with them,” she says, speculating that maybe the directors made casting decisions with just this sort of growth in mind.

“I think this is very astute of Amanda,” says Robinson, when told of her student’s thoughts.
“Being a supporting player and character actress (as opposed to the strictly leading role she has
had a few times) is highly desirable for her growth.”

Plus, theater in general provides an excellent opportunity for addressing issues like racism, she
says. “Theater is wonderful as far as its ability to discuss and deal with sensitive social issues … . It’s opening up a community discussion and putting a mirror on societal issues,” Robinson says. “This is a great space for teens to encounter these issues and grapple with them and reflect on them.”

And at Sitar, the teens involved might not otherwise get the chance: Eighty percent of the students come from low-income families, and the center never turns a family away for inability to pay. Nor would it turn away financially strapped audience members: Tickets to “Bye Bye Birdie,” performed July 28
through 31 at 1700 Kalorama Road NW, are free — though they must be reserved in advance: “We do four nights, and they all sell out,” says Robinson. “The show is very popular.”

Tickets will become available on July 11 and can be reserved by calling 202-797-2145 or emailing
communications@sitarartscenter. org. Shows will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday
and 2 p.m. Sunday.

By BETH COPE
Current Staff Writer