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CHILDREN'S EDUCATIONAL THEATRE
By Archive
from Salem Monthly, Section Stage
Posted on Sun Aug 14, 2005 at 01:06:09 PM PDT
There aren’t too many schools where you can encounter a three-foot papier-mâché alligator head lounging in the hallway. And yet, this is exactly what I found at the Children’s Educational Theatre, a non-profit organization and summer charter-school dedicated to the performing and stagecraft arts.
Now in their 31st  year of existence, CET offers Salem-area youth the opportunity for creative exploration, as well as the chance to hone marketable workplace skills for those who would like to pursue theatre professionally.
I arrived at CET on lunch break, when the halls were aflutter with bustling activity. Robert Salberg, program director, was there to greet me. “Do you want to sit down?” he said. “It’s gonna be a minute.” And he promptly disappeared into the chatter of hallway throngs. One gets the sense that Robert has a lot on his plate - and understandably so; this 26-year-old Linfield College senior, in collaboration with 11 staff members and 11 high-school teaching assistants, oversees the production of five plays in a span of five weeks.
During this time, the halls of South Salem High School are filled with the choral strains, manic energy, and stage props of CET students - now at an all-time enrollment high of 185. Here, students skip and hum and juggle water bottles in between classes. Their unbridled energy is harnessed through classes like dance and musical theatre, song-writing, puppetry, Shakespeare, stage design, scene-painting, set-building and (of course) acting. Each student chooses three electives per term, and returning high school students have the opportunity to become paid teaching assistants.
I discovered one such assistant, 18-year-old Chris Enquist, cutting lumber in the main tech room amidst glitter-encrusted palm trees and jars of satin latex enamel. For him, being involved with CET is “a step up from working at Thrillville.” But more than that, it’s an opportunity to be creative and to impart his own technical expertise to others.
Younger incoming students are just as excited about their involvement at CET. Adam Stewart, a 4th-grade rookie and “family comedian,” recommended the mime class to me and didn’t hesitate to demonstrate what he had learned.
These antics have flourished under the efforts of the current staff to continue a theatrical tradition dating to 1975, when former drama-teacher Phyllis Quanbeck and a handful of committed parents at McKinley Elementary School decided to supplement the public school system’s limited art curriculum with their own theatre program. Since then, they’ve had reason to celebrate; enrollment continues to climb, especially with the availability of scholarships for kids who can’t afford the tuition. In fact, this year Eola Hills Winery has already granted them $1000 as a starter fund for their subsequent donations. As a non-profit organization, CET’s primary means of income are tuition and ticket sales. Many of the plays are sponsored by local businesses, which pay a sponsorship fee to help offset production costs and ensure high-quality sets.
This year’s features included “Pandemonium,” a regional premiere from the Samuel French London group; “The Annual Conference of the Genies” and “Just So It Happened,” adaptations of “Arabian Knights” and Rudyard Kipling’s “Tall Tales,” respectively; “The Little Mermaid” (based on the Hans Christian Andersen original); and “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” CET has graced the Rose Theater, Bush Park (in conjunction with the Salem Art Fair & Festival), South Salem High School, and the Salem Public Library with their performances, drawing crowds of up to seven hundred.
Each production warranted a hearty round of applause. With a paid make-up artist and two professional seamstresses supporting the acting troupe, it’s not difficult to understand why. When CET is in session, Kelly Meier and Lynda Woodworth spend forty hours a week designing, sewing, and perfecting costumes with the help of volunteer parents. They’ve fashioned ensembles for everything from dragons and Sneetches to mermaids and Medusa. But ultimately, it’s not the extravagant bird head-dress and candy-cane striped leggings that make someone a star - it’s their ability to grow and explore and risk and learn.
“We try not to focus so much on production,” Salberg said. “It’s more of a process of discovery. Everyone is cast in a show, everyone has a part, and everyone’s part is important.”
Now that deserves an encore.
The Children’s Educational Theatre is open to children grades 4-12. Enrollment for the 2006 season begins January 1 for returning students and February 1 for new applicants. If you would like to learn more about CET, please call 503.399.3398 or visit their website at www.childrensedtheatre.org.



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