Page 6 - TR What Women Want Dec 2015

6SS • What Women Want • An Advertising Supplement to the Three Rivers Edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette • Sunday, December 13, 2015
PHOTOS BY CHERYL WEAVER OF ZOE PHOTOGRAPHIC GROUP
Sophie Fuller, 17, and her mother, Carla Fuller, both volunteer at Center on the Square, Searcy’s community theater. Sophie is directing Phillip Grecian’s A Christmas Story, a comical play about 9-year-old Ralphie Parker’s struggle to receive a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas.
An act of LOVE
Mother and daughter bitten by theater bug help bring spirit of Searcy to the stage
BY SARAH DECLERK SPECIAL SECTIONS WRITER
After years of watching her moth- er, Carla Fuller, steer actors across the small versatile stage at Center
on the Square, 17-year-old Sophie Fuller said she has picked up a similar directing style, which will help her bring Phillip Grecian’s A Christmas Story to life.
Both women are longtime volunteers at Searcy’s community theater. Carla said she does not know many teens who would be willing to direct a pro- duction on their own, but Sophie has more than a decade of theater experience to help her with the task.
“She has the confidence to do it, but she also has the knowledge and the skills because she’s really grown up here,” Carla said.
Sophie first took the stage at age 6 when Carla
enrolled her in KidStage, the theater’s children’s program, which teaches children the basics of acting and stagecraft in three sessions each year. KidStage produces two one-act plays in the fall, a musical in the summer and a review featuring all its partici- pants in the spring.
“I met a lot of friends in KidStage, and I probably learned more in KidStage than in school,” Sophie said. “It’s also a good way to learn leadership skills and how to communicate well.”
Carla said she considers the program to be her daughter’s biggest influence, aside from Sophie’s parents and church. Sophie is a good leader, and she’s confident, bold and forthright, Carla said.
“I think all of that comes from being involved here. She just has a lot of skills that she wouldn’t have if she hadn’t been involved, and I think having those skills builds her self-confidence,” Carla said.
Both agreed that the program can benefit chil- dren who do not participate in sports or who have a hard time fitting in at school.
“If they’re not athletic, [drama] becomes their sport,” Carla said. “Their parents come and cheer them on. Their grandparents come and cheer them on, [and their friends]. We have a lot of nonathletic kids who love being here.”
Since her introduction to KidStage, Sophie has been involved in almost every aspect of the the- ater. She has acted, directed, designed lights, sorted props, vacuumed the aisles and even taught Kid- Stage herself, she said.
Like her daughter, Carla has worn many hats at the theater. As an attorney, she said it provides her with a creative outlet.
“A lot of lawyers play golf, ride horses and have their outside-of-the-office activities, so I just tell people this is my golf,” she said.
She first visited Center on the Square as an audi- ence member at her husband’s company Christmas party about 15 years ago. Being an audience mem- ber led Carla to being a board member, which then led her to acting and directing.