Derek Weatherdon and Nicole Roy, the couple who put together last winter’s highly successful The Reluctant Dragon at the Peterborough Theatre Guild, have a unique philosophy when working with kids.
They never want to have an audience member ever leave their show saying “That was pretty good … for a kids’ show.” They want to create professional and entertaining shows that feature kids, but are aimed at a broader audience.
This philosophy has become the basis for Planet 12 Productions, a brand new theatre company that Derek and Nicole, along with Heather Ross and Amy Keller, have spearheaded. The company aims to give kids between the ages of 11 and 13 opportunities to flex their acting muscles in dramatic roles, and give talented kids an alternative channel to enter theatre than those most often available for them.
“There are kids out there who are super talented,” Nicole says. “These kids can often out-act adults, and they need a chance to do really good theatre.”
Having become familiar faces in the theatre community in the past year, Derek and Nicole appeared together in the My Narrator, the Peterborough Theatre Guild’s entry into the Eastern Ontario Drama League One Act Festival, and Derek recently starred in the award-winning drama A Life Before, while Nicole was in No Exit at The Theatre on King (TTOK).
Derek has a background working with kids as a teacher at Queen Elizabeth Public School in Peterborough, where he has directed a number of school productions before crossing over to do the Theatre Guild’s annual family show last December. Derek believes there’s a lot of potential for kids to be given more opportunities in theatre than they often receive.
“I find that in my line of work as a teacher, as well as in the arts, people tend to cut kids short,” Derek explains. “They don’t know what kids are capable of, and often the assumption is that they aren’t capable of very much. They think that it’s often easier to replace a kid with a young-looking teenager or adult — but you don’t have to. The words can be said just as poignantly, and even more so, by an age-appropriate actor.”
Derek and Nicole are not only involved in theatre themselves, but are the parents of Samuelle “Sam” May Weatherdon, one of Peterborough’s most remarkable young actresses. She has appeared in both family and adult productions over the past three years at 4th Line Theatre, the Peterborough Theatre Guild, and TTOK, and she’s currently working in New Stages’ production of Our Town.
Derek and Nicole say when TTOK’s Ryan Kerr cast Sam along with Lydia Etherington in Hortense Flexner’s Voices last September, they realized that, despite the many opportunities for kids to enter theatre in Peterborough, more could be done.
“Voices was a huge thing,” Nicole says. “That was validation. When Sam and Lydia auditioned for Ryan Kerr, he saw the talent in these two girls but he didn’t have a show for them to do. He had nothing for them, and he could have just let them walk away. But he didn’t want to let these kids go. He had to find something for them, and that was Voices.”
The Planet 12 Productions team invited six of their outstanding performers from The Reluctant Dragon to form a company that will give both acting and production opportunities to pre-teens, but allow them to do theatre that’s more cutting edge than that often associated with kids their age.
“As much as possible, we’re going to be working with the same core group of kids every time,” Derek says. “We’re a true ensemble. We are not focused on musical theatre. We’re not focused on kids’ theatre. We’re not focused on pageantry. The focus is going to be on drama and more serious fare.”
“Most kids’ shows are just that — kids’ shows,” Nicole adds. “They are kids’ shows in their expectations and in their standards and their execution. It’s about dressing them up really cute and have your friends and family come out and see how awesome they look on stage, and that’s it. That’s not what we are going to do.”
Although there are plans to extend opportunities to kids who want to join Planet 12 Productions in the future, the current performers includes Derek and Nicole’s daughter Sam as well as Abbie Dale, Aimee Gordon, Emily Keller, Emma Meinhardt, and Issac Maker. Along with Derek (creative director and sound designer) and Nicole (stage management and producer), the crew includes Dave Butcher (props, lights, and effects) and Heather Ross (lead costumer).
“We have a group of kids who are quite good,” Derek says. “They have presence, they have personality, and they have the right attitude. They are very trusting, their families are very supportive, and they take it seriously. Our short-term goals are to give these kids heavy fare. To have them say things and create things on stage that would not be typical for kids, but may be typical for adults.
“We also want to promote opportunities with other theatre companies for these kids. We want to help them with their auditioning skills and their acting abilities. We don’t want to keep them; we want to send them to other places. Planet 12 Productions is just a place where our kids will always get a place to act.”
For their premiere show, Planet 12 Productions will be presenting Derek’s original play Boy Wonders at TTOK from June 8th to 10th.
A fan and collector of comic books, Derek has written a twisted and poignant look at superhero sidekicks with some real-world twists. For this production, which tells the story of six sidekick superheroes in the 1940s, the kids will be joined onstage by popular Peterborough actor Brad Breckenridge.
“Boy Wonders is sort of The Breakfast Club meets superheroes, but it’s deeper,” Derek says. “It’s a story that’s going to take a big look of what being a sidekick is.
I’ve read a lot of Golden Age comics: The Sandman and Sandy, Green Arrow and Speedy, Merry the Girl of 1000 Gimmicks, Boy Commandos, The Newsboy Legion. As comic book fans, we just accept sidekicks as being a part of the genre. We don’t question it. It just makes sense because it’s been there forever.”
“Look at Batman and Robin,” adds Nicole. “It really hit home with the kids when we talked about them. This rich bachelor millionaire with no wife and no family, with only a butler, who dresses up like a bat at night, he goes and adopts this orphan kid.”
“Batman puts this kid in a bright red shirt and then he throws him in gunfire,” Derek continues. “Meanwhile, Batman stands in the shadows, and we don’t question that. This is the thing that Boy Wonders explores. It’s not a touching story. It’s more of a horror story, but it’s going to let these kids shine right off the bat.”
While many theatre companies only offers kids one or two opportunities to appear in shows per year, Planet 12 Productions plans to do multiple productions a year.
“We never want the kids to ever be asked the question ‘This is a great show, what’s next for you?’ and have nothing to say but ‘I don’t know, whatever comes up’,” Nicole explains.
There are solid plans to do productions in September and December, including a show featuring adult actors with an all-kids stage crew.
“If the kids aren’t in the show, we want them on crew,” Derek says. “We have a possible adult show in the works which we want the kids involved in behind the scenes. It’s three adult actors and the kids will be crewing it.”
Although there are many fantastic opportunities for kids to get into theatre in Peterborough, Planet 12 Productions has the potential to be something very unique and niche. Giving kids of such a young age the chance to work together on dramatic productions aimed for an older audience will be something very interesting to see.
Having seen all of the kids from Planet 12 on the stage before, I have little doubt that they have what it takes to make some very raw and compelling theatre.
“There are going to be a lot of eyes on us,” Derek says. “People are really curious about what we’re going to do, and they seem to be very positive about it. There will be a lot of people who are going to want to come out and see what we are all about.”
For more information and updates on Planet 12 Productions, visit their Facebook page and Facebook group.
