Josh Mayfield in Seedfolks. Photo by Jennifer Lin.
This past weekend, Metro Theater Company opened the first mainstage production of their 50th season, Seedfolks, adapted from the Newbery Medal-winning book by Paul Fleischman. The children’s theater company is also currently touring their world premiere production of Mariah L Richardson’s Bold, Brave, Curious! at St. Louis-area schools. It will feature the play at two additional pay-what-you-wish performances at The Sun Theater (3625 Grandel) on October 15 and 16. Ahead of the Seedfolks premiere, we caught up with Metro artistic director Julia Flood to talk about 50 years of enriching children’s lives through the arts, and what the future holds for the local institution.
Can you start by telling us a bit about the mission of Metro Theater Company?
Metro Theater Company is a company that is inspired by the intelligence and emotional wisdom of young people. Everything we do is rooted in young people, where they are and what their lived experience is. We do professional theater for young people and families. We foster inclusive community across the board, both through our productions and education programs, but also by going into the community and engaging the community in our work. We nurture lifelong—we hope—learning through the art of theater. So that is what our mission is now, and it really has been for 50 years—serving families and young people in St. Louis and the region. It’s a mission that is both wide and very narrow, as it focuses on each individual child and a depth of experience. So we really want to change the way our community thinks about young people, the way young people think about their own future and possibility, and, by doing it, create a richer landscape for all of us.
What does it mean to this organization to have been pursuing that mission for 50 years?
I think celebrating 50 years is both a tribute to the work of the artists and educators who came before us and also a really very moving testament to the strength of this community and their focus on nurturing young people through a holistic vision of what is possible in the arts. When you think about the fact that, in St. Louis, a young person can go to the Saint Louis Art Museum for free. They can go to the Missouri History Museum for free. This community has grounded the lives of its families in an enriched culture. And Metro Theater Company is proud to have been part of that for 50 years. The artists, those of us who are doing it today, really stand on the shoulders of some brilliant, innovative artists. It's unlike any other community I've lived in. It's such a rich landscape for growing strong young people. A lot of young artists start with us and then go on to do other things or stay here and work with the young people in our community. And that's very rewarding for those of us doing the work for the long term.
It’s so true that St. Louis offers its families such great access to the arts, especially in terms of free museums and educational programs.
It’s amazing. And I don't know that all of St. Louis knows how unique that is, and how extraordinary really, that the community has made a commitment to making sure that people have access to arts and to all the things that really make life worth living. Nurturing the souls of our young people is so important, and this community is committed to that. If it wasn't, Metro Theater Company wouldn't have lasted for 50 years. Those of us who have not been with the company for 50 years know how special that is, because we all came from somewhere else. It's a real privilege to carry that forward and a testament to this city and region. Because that doesn't happen everywhere.
Tell us about the 50th season and the productions you’ve chosen.
So the 50th anniversary season is a season of celebration. We're celebrating both the accomplishments of 50 years and surviving at a time when the arts are having a tough time. So there's a theme of renewal and regeneration that runs through the season. We also are simultaneously looking back to our roots and looking forward to the future of what we think is going to be the next 50 years for Metro Theater Company. We have two world premiere productions in our season: one by local playwright Mariah Richardson called Bold, Brave, Curious! that has been touring into schools and one coming up in February called Spells of the Sea, which is written by two young women [Guinevere Govea and Anna Amelia Rose Pickett], who are just at the beginning of their theatrical career and who are going to make a big splash in the theater world. This is an exciting adventure musical with pirates and mermaids, and it really speaks to the future of where theater is going. We're also doing a beloved children's book, Go, Dog. Go! on stage at The Big Top, and that’s also celebrating the physical theater that was the root of the company, which was for many years called Metro Theater Circus. So we're going into The Big Top to have our 50th anniversary celebration. And then of course now we are currently in The Grandel doing Seedfolks, and that is about planting seeds and growing where no one would've expected to grow. It’s both talking literally about a community garden and bringing people together. But it's also talking about the growth of this company and creating something beautiful out of maybe an unexpected corner of our community, you know? It’s really about cultivating community and celebrating and inviting young people and families back into the wonderful, magical community that is created when you're seeing a show at a theater. We're back in schools full-time, too, with our educating team, so it really feels like we're all breathing new air and regenerating after a long time of quiet. It's perfect for the 50th, because we’re still here.
What’s your vision for the future of this company? You’re celebrating 50 years, what do the next 50 look like?
We have several things that we're launching in our 50th anniversary season. We were already working on it, but through the pandemic we realized by doing virtual programming and our pay-what-you-wish program, how we could go further with creating access. So one of the things we're beginning this coming year is an “Every Child Initiative,” where we are raising funds to make sure that, within 10 years, we can reach every child in the region with one of our programs or access to one of our plays. That's part of the future, making certain that the work we do is accessible to every young person in our region. We've started it this year with Bold, Brave, Curious!, but we have a cycle of new play development. Creating new work has always been part of Metro Theater Company, but we've made a commitment to have at least five world premiere new plays from Metro Theater Company over the next 10 years, starting this year. Through that we are creating new partnerships. We are going to be working two theater companies in Arkansas. It's reinvigorating. But primary in our goals is that every child in this region either has a Metro teaching artist in their classroom or has access to a mainstage production or a tour. Somehow by the time 10 years are up, we'll be able to look and say, “Every child in this region has somehow had a magical artistic experience with Metro Theater Company.” It's a huge goal, but it's one that I think we can reach and one that really speaks to the roots of that mission that every child deserves the very best of artistic experiences and our belief that that will help them grow and expand and envision a better future for themselves.
That’s a really ambitious goal, but one that would certainly be exciting to accomplish.
It is, yeah. And you know, this anniversary has really brought a lot of people out who have been saying to us what it meant to them growing up to see a Metro Theater Company show. One of the examples that I just love is Kathryn Bentley, who's the director of Bold, Brave, Curious! She remembers seeing Metro Theater Company at her school when she was a youngster. That was back in the early days when they were all barefoot in the gymnasium. Whatever that sparked in her, she is now a professor of theater at SIUE and, with this production, she is paying it forward. She was inspired as a child growing up in St. Louis by this performance in her school, and now she has directed a performance that is going into schools and will spark joy in another child. And that's so exciting, it really is. I feel very privileged to be part of this company that has maintained the integrity of such an important mission for a full five decades.
For those who haven't yet encountered Metro Theater Company, what’s one thing you’d like everyone to know?
I would say Metro Theater Company creates magical theater and engagement opportunities that are rooted in young people's experience, but that speak to all people. I think young people deserve the greatest art that we can give them, and that means it's great art and everyone should see it, whether they have young people with them or not. It's really about who we are and who we're going to become, because it's rooted in those young people that are the future of who we are. We also have unbelievably fabulous artists working for us.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with folks about MTC or this 50th anniversary season?
If you want to know about all the things that are happening at Metro Theater Company, please go to our website, metroplays.org, because we are engaging in all levels of activity. For example, Seedfolks is happening on The Grandel stage, but also anybody who wants to join us at Fresh Starts Community Garden on October 29th, we are in partnership with the Noble Neighbor and St. Louis Public Library to have a live Q&A with the author of the book Seedfolks. There's just a lot happening all the time. So we would love for people to get to know us, get to engage with us, see us on stage, but also join us in the community to do the kind of work that makes our community such a wonderful place to live.
