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Arts Troupe Adds 'Colours' to 'Grease' Natalie Hopkinson
(1999, July 21). |
Copyright The Washington Post Company
Residents of
Soon an army
of 35 will avenge the snub.
Colours, a
performing arts troupe headquartered at Parkdale High
School in Riverdale, will take a piece of Prince George's County to Macy's
flagship store in Manhattan, where it was recently invited to perform.
"The
kids act like ambassadors for the county," Jason Cook, the group's
30-year-old founder and director, says from a purple-walled office lined with
pictures, newspaper articles and awards featuring Colours. "When we go
away to perform, the kids are treated like royalty."
The group's
appearances have garnered praise from audiences throughout the region. One
student in
"It was
unlike any performance I had ever seen," the student gushed. "It was
nice to have an assembly that wasn't boring."
"They
were a tremendous hit," recalls Darla Strouse,
director of corporate partnerships and development for the Maryland State
Department of Education. "We always hear about talent in
Hometown
audiences can catch the ensemble this week, when it performs the musical
"Grease" at the
Cook gets a
kick out of the audience's reaction to the production's mostly African American
cast.
"We like
doing 'Grease' because it's typically associated with an all-white cast,"
he says of the musical, whose characters are '50s- era high school students.
"But we started having a multicultural cast way before Broadway did."
Cook grew up
in
The Charles
Carroll students chose the name Colours to represent the group's spectrum of
races and religions.
Since then,
the program has become so popular that Cook has been invited to introduce it to
three other county schools:
Top-notch
talent was recruited to direct the Colours spinoffs
at various schools. Keitha Shepherd, for example, is
the group's vocal instructor at Templeton Elementary.
Shepherd is a
member of the popular Washington-based singing group Pure Soul, whose hit
single "We Must Be in Love" topped R&B charts in 1995. Now a
music teacher at Templeton, Shepherd says she's impressed by Cook's dedication
to the program.
"He's a
hard worker," she says. "He's a perfectionist, so you have to have a
certain mind-set to be a part of this. You can't just come in there and work
with the children for a few hours. You have to really be into it."
Cook, for his
part, shrugs off the long hours he spends at the school, since he doesn't have
a family. (He also coaches volleyball and softball.)
"I
equate it to if I were a doctor or lawyer," Cook says. "Being a
teacher is no different. You're a teacher 24 hours a day. . . . I'd much rather
be sitting here than in a meeting with a bunch of adults."
Cook demands
the same level of intensity from students. He stays in touch with teachers and
principals to make sure Colours performers keep up with their schoolwork.
Jessica Dukes
knows all too well how tough Cook can be. The director pulled the former
Colours
"made me a better person," says Dukes, now an 18-year-old college
sophomore studying mass communication and theater at
"When I
got pulled out of Colours, it helped me get better grades. It helped me get
into college."
Dukes returned
to Colours this summer to direct the performance of "Grease." She
says the troupe is the same haven for artistic spirits it was when she joined
six years ago.
"It's a
place where you can go to let your inner characters run wild," Dukes says,
raising her hands with a dramatic flourish.
"We get
to show our true talents," agrees Christopher Law, a 15- year-old Parkdale sophomore whose dark brown hair is braided into
cornrows. "We don't have to front for anyone here."
Law is
playing Danny Zuko in the troupe's upcoming
production of "Grease." He admits that the hours spent rehearsing
limit other things he likes to do, such as playing basketball and hanging out
with friends. But he says being on stage more than makes up for it.
"It's
worth it," he says.
Colours performs "Grease" at