Hayden and Alex from Bill Metcalfe on Vimeo.
The LVR Grad Talent show packs the Capitol Theatre every year, and audiences are always amazed by the calibre of the performances by these children of an arts town.
It’s a Nelson tradition.
The event has become known also for its colourful MCs. This year it’s Grade 12 students Hayden Wasylyk and Alex McMahon. Here’s what they told the Star about why they took on this role:
Hayden: I thought, what a great way to end my Grade 12 year, by hosting it with a dear friend of mine thousands of years old. So that is the real reason but also I think it is good to be involved with your grad class, you know, get your fingers into the meat, you know, tear it apart.
Alex: All those reasons and more. Frankly I am honoured to be the voice that brings on the raw talent of….
Hayden: So much. So much talent. It is a pool of raw clay that is of the earth, you know?
Alex: LVR is a writhing, angry cesspit of talent and diversity. And as MCs we will bring to the stage a certain wacky charm that the audience will be offended by…. or enjoy.
Hayden: Or just something unfamiliar you know? It is good to just stare into their eyes sometimes.
Alex: It is good to stare into the eye of the abyss.
Hayden: Why should people come to the show? Well, if they like to go to things they don’t come back from…I mean… that they enjoy, they should come to the Grad Talent Show 2015. We will be there, in every single seat.
Local actor and director Pat Henman is directing this year’s Grad Talent Show, as she did the two previous times one of her three children performed in it.
“We’ve got singing, instrumentalists, bands— funk, swing jazz— contemporary dance, spoken word, and a drama scene,” she says. “We’ve got it all. And it just a great community event— there are raffles, a 50-50 draw, and art displays.
“I enjoy being there and sharing their talent with the community,” she says. “I like putting the whole picture together and seeing it as a show. My most important thing, at the end of the day, it needs to be a show.”
“But my second thing is I love mentoring those kids, sharing stories, giving them tips, and having them say, ‘OK that’s great, I can do that.’ That is why I love it.”
Henman thinks teenage performers are special.
“At 16 I was willing to go the gamut. I did not know my limitations. You just go for it. After you are older and have trained, suddenly you go, ‘Hmmm, I can’t take that chance because it might not work.’”
Henman is glad to have Hayden and Alex as the MCs.
“They are so lively, so energetic, and they have these improv skills— they can take care of whatever gets thrown that them.”
The show starts at 7:30, and tickets are available online at www.capitoltheatre.bc.ca.