Mad River Theater Works Managing Director Chris Westhoff provided piano accompaniment for the burgeoning thespians of this year’s youth summer residency program early this week as they sang “Being Alive” from Stephen Sondheim’s “Company.” The musical number is one of several the young residents have chosen to incorporate into their show, “Everybody Wants to Change the World,” which will be performed Friday, June 13, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Foundry Theater’s main-stage auditorium. (Photo by Lauren "Chuck" Shows)
Mad River Theater Works’ world-changing show
- Published: June 13, 2025
Amid its third year, the Mad River Theater Works youth summer residency theater program continues its now-cemented tradition of leading young thespians through the process of devised theater, where they work together to build their own show, from beginning to end.
During a break in day-long creation and rehearsal in the Foundry Theater’s main-stage auditorium this week, residency student Meara stopped to tell the News the theme of the production that will cap this year’s two-week camp.
“Our show is about changing the world,” she said.
This year, the residency’s young actors, who range in age from 8 to 17, are also changing up the formula for the show they’re crafting. In the two-week camp, they’ve incorporated musical numbers from well-known shows into original scenes to help tell the stories they want to tell — big and small stories, all focused around this year’s theme.
The summer residency participants will perform “Everybody Wants to Change the World” Friday, June 13, at 7 p.m. at the Foundry Theater.
Jenna Valyn, co-founder of Dayton’s former Nerve Theater company and new to the summer residency’s teaching staff, said she introduced this year’s show theme as one that seems relevant to the times in which students are living.
“Instead of ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World,’” she said, referencing the Tears for Fears song, “I thought we could shift it and find a positive take on it.”
She added: “We’re already seeing enough power struggles happening in our lives — so let’s try to make it a better place.”
As in summers past, students broke into small groups and created their own scenes — this time with the addition of musical numbers to most scenes, chosen by the students from a list of existing musical numbers.
Young actors Nia, Helen and JoJo told the News that their group chose “Love is an Open Door” — a number well-known to most kids, since it comes from Disney’s ubiquitous musical film “Frozen.” The group chose the song first, and then crafted their scene around it.
“But we changed the lyrics a little bit so that [the song] is more about hope,” Helen said.
Their scene takes place on a bus, the inhabitants of which are all having their own version of a bad day. They eventually realize, however, that they can change their perspectives on their circumstances by forming a community.
“Our scene is about the darkness of life — in a comedic way — and for us, the song represents the light coming through and everyone coming together,” Nia said.
“People are coming at it from different angles,” Valyn said. “Some have the song in mind first, and others have built the scene and then found their song — but they’re all working together, and I think everything will feel really cohesive at the end of the day.”
Young actor Dory said her group’s scene focuses on two students who “don’t feel seen” at their school — but they find a way to make both an impression and positive change in their own way.
“They find out that the school’s gonna get torn down, and they find a dragon — so they use it to help them with protests, and then they use the dragon to help them protect the school,” she said.
Evadene, who’s in Dory’s group, said their scene feels important because it can be common for kids to feel like they’re invisible when they’re in school — particularly if “they’re in a really big class.”
Unlike some other groups, Dory and Evadene’s group wrote their scene first, and then found the song to fit it. They landed upon the quintessential “unseen” song, “Waving through a Window,” from the musical “Dear Evan Hansen,” in which the title character sings: “On the outside, always looking in/Will I ever be more than I’ve always been?”
Playwright, actor and returning summer residency instructor Daniel Carlton said the explosive creativity of the young thespians was on full display during the first week of this year’s program, when students dream up their big ideas. The second week, however, is when they refine and rehearse the ideas they’ve decided to follow.
“A 10-year-old has a universe of imagination — and that means sometimes, when they come back for the second week, they’re still dreaming up multiple settings and years, so the work is all about bringing it back to the core and locking in,” Carlton said.
He added that this year’s students, far from all being only focused on musical theater, have brought “a variety of personalities” and talents, and thus, a variety of approaches to the way the show’s segments are being presented. Some leave room for those who want a vocal solo to stand alone in the spotlight; others are complete ensemble pieces. The actors in one segment chose not to include a song at all.
While the News was at the Foundry, the residency welcomed local resident and hip hop artist Tronee Threat — Guy “Tron” Banks — as a special guest for the afternoon. Banks was there to teach the young residents about hip hop, including some of its history and how to begin employing its verbal rhythms. The group started slowly, repeating after Banks — “Rat-a-tat-tat, just like that!” — with increasing speed. By the end of Banks’ session, the group was working together to rap the lyrics of “My Shot” from “Hamilton,” a song one group has chosen for its scene.
Mad River Theater Works Managing Director Chris Westhoff said it was kismet that Banks agreed to lend his expertise to this year’s residency; Banks is intimately familiar with “My Shot,” as he performed the title role in “The Hamilton Project” in 2019.
“He told us he had two or three things he could work with the kids on, and ‘Hamilton’ wasn’t even one of them — but when he found out one group was doing the song, that’s what happened,” Westhoff said.
Returning instructor AJ Breslin, who helmed this year’s residency, said he’s been encouraged by the way the young artists, with their diverse age ranges, have worked together, with older kids guiding the younger ones, and younger ones offering idea after idea.
“The thing that I’m seeing is they all treat each other as equals,” Breslin said.
Kindness, equality and being receptive to new ideas is the goal, he said — not just within the theater space, but for the future world the kids envision. He pointed toward the show’s opening songs as a kind of evidence: “Let Your Freak Flag Fly,” from “Shrek: The Musical” and “Being Alive” from Stephen Sondheim’s “Company.”
Breslin said he expected “Let Your Freak Flag Fly” — a colorful, upbeat celebration of differences — to be the students’ favorite, but has been surprised at how much they have taken to the meditative, “I want” statements in “Being Alive:” “Someone to crowd you with love/Someone to force you to care/Someone to make you come through/Who’ll always be there/As frightened as you/Of being alive.”
After hearing the song for the first time, Breslin said, the young residents described it as “nostalgic,” “wistful” and even “yearning.”
“So I hope that, when parents and community members come see the show, they understand that these kids are the leaders of tomorrow, and — at the risk of sounding cheesy — they are already yearning and hoping for this better world,” he said.
“Everybody Wants to Change the World” will be performed Friday, June 13, beginning at 7 p.m. — this year in the Foundry Theater’s main-stage auditorium. The performance is free — though donations to Mad River Theater Works are welcome at http://www.yscf.org/mad-river-theater-works — and the public is welcome to attend.
Mad River Theater Works is supported by the Yellow Springs Community Foundation and the Ohio Arts Council.
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