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Midland's Cara Baker leaps from 'Avenue Q' to 'Anne of Green Gables'
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“During the auditions, there were a few times I wanted to tell the squirrely middle-schoolers, ‘You, sit down! Be quiet!’” she said, breaking into her controlling Christmas Eve character from “Avenue Q.”
But with her full attention now on directing the classic tale of the headstrong Canadian orphan opening Thursday, March 21, at the Midland Center for the Arts, “it is challenging,” she said of her directorial debut, “but that’s good.”
It also caps a season she calls her international Center Stage Theatre tour, first playing the German Mrs. Gloop in “Willy Wonka” and then an Asian woman in “Avenue Q” before heading for Canada’s Prince Edward Island.
As Christmas Eve in Center Stage
Theatre's "Avenue Q," Cara Baker played to an entirely different
audience than she targets in "Anne of Green Gables."
Baker has a tour guide in co-director Peter Brooks, who coached his
own daughter in “Anne of Green Gables” 15 years ago, just as she leads
her daughter Lilly in her cast of 24. Liz Doerr of Saginaw has the title
role; Lilly plays her best friend Diana.“Our cast is made up of sixth- through eighth-graders and that’s an interesting age,” Baker said. “It takes a certain kind of person to do this, someone who wants to be there.
“I’m learning how to make it look good. That’s my responsibility. I know what I want and I’m learning how to get it there.”
A self-described stage-mom, “I’ve been in a production with my two older girls before but this is really fun,” she said. “My daughter recognizes us as directors and she’s forced to stop and listen to what we have to say.
Some actors must adopt the walk and talk of much older characters and others, such as the frisky Anne, must age in the course of the production, from a free-spirited orphan to a college graduate and fledgling teacher.
“We’re at crunch time now, with everything moved to the stage,” Baker said. “Now they understand why we pushed them so hard to learn their lines; they can focus instead on doors that open a different way than they thought and all the other things that come with a set.”
Next comes costumes and make-up, “and there’s a whole new excitement each time we introduce something new,” she said. “”Now it’s all about putting cheeks in the seats. It’s a matter of opportunity.”
“Anne of Green Gables” begins at 7:30 p.m. March 21, 22 and 23 and 3 p.m. March 23 and 24 at the Midland Center for the Arts, 1801 W. St. Andrews. Tickets, available at the box office, by calling 800-523-7649 and online at mcfta.org, cost $12 for adults and $8 for students.
An activity guide for young theatergoers is also available at mcfta.org.
