By Elizabeth Mandel

or over 50 years, South Valley Civic Theater( SVCT) has provided opportunities for students to shine. Of SVCT’ s seven shows each year, one is a teen production and another a youth production. For SVCT’ s new 2025-2026 season, Disney’ s Descendents, will feature young performers, aged 6-14, in two casts. Many of them will continue to perform for years to come.

Klara as Leading Player in Pippin Why does SVCT make this

commitment to local youth, and what attracts these students to live theater? At SVCT, we believe that involvement in community theater is an important means for local kids and teens to develop confidence and skills and for adults to support them. We asked some of our teen participants what theater has meant to them.

These teens asserted that theater has made them more resilient and confident in dealing with unfamiliar situations and new people.

Klara Klotzbach( who recently played Leading Player in SVCT’ s Pippin) said,“ I don’ t necessarily think of myself as an extrovert, but I am able to easily talk to people I have never met. This is because of my practice in working with new directors, cast members, and artistic staff.”

Similarly, Coraline Christian( who recently played Gretchen in SVCT’ s teen production of Mean Girls) added,“ When I was younger, I had the worst social anxiety. I was always concerned with what others thought of me. Being onstage brought a new way of thinking: I do what I think is right, and if it’ s wrong, there will always be more performances. I started to think this way daily, and it’ s stuck with me ever since.”

Faux sardines by Clara Shem-Tov in A Comedy of Tenors

Coraline as Gretchen in SVCT ' s Teen Production n Mean Girls

Maxwell Eichholtz-Cale( who recently played Mr. Duvall in SVCT’ s teen production of Mean Girls) agreed.“ Theater has made me a more confident and outgoing person.”

The students also believe that theater has taught them to connect with others. Klara reflected,“ Studying characters’ thoughts, feelings, and emotions throughout my life has given me empathy and compassion”, while Coraline said,“ There is something special about the friendships I ' ve made through theater. I feel like we understand and accept each other on a different level. I can be my most genuine self without judgement.”

A high school senior, Clara Shem-Tov is applying to colleges for technical theater and wants to work on professional shows.“ My favorite thing about theater is that every show, and even every performance, is different. One show I am hanging lights, and the next I might be spending hours painting, then the next day I might be running around backstage. There is always something new to learn and new challenges that pop up that we get to solve.” A creative hobby of Clara’ s is creating uncannily realistic faux food theater props.

Kyle Strenfel, after 30 shows and 10 years of performing in the Bay Area, is heading to the Hartt School of Music in Connecticut this fall for a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre. He said,“ A lot of the time, it can be challenging to connect to a character that you are cast as; with most roles understanding the way a character acts and thinks requires considerable thought.”

An example of this was his portrayal of Christopher Boone, a teen with autism in SVCT’ s production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. In contrast, he described connection with Hermes’ emotions( in Children’ s Musical Theatre San Jose’ s production of Hadestown as“ effortless”. Kyle said being a performer is incredibly fulfilling because, while it is challenging, he has ultimately felt successful.

As described in their own words, SVCT’ s investment in local students is developing our teens into confident, caring, creative, and capable adults. SVCT encourages you to see where it starts, with our young performers’ production of Disney’ s Descendents in October.

To support local theater, and learn more, visit: SVCT. org.

Kyle in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Kyle as Hermes in Hadestown

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