By Khalida Sarwari
Her hands clasped together, Kaitlyn Rose Barnett stared off into the distance and sighed longingly.
“I want the moon,” she said, twirling around to face Alessandro Cois. “If I can have the moon, I will be well again.” Her wish fulfilled, Kaitlyn slipped the gold chain holding the moon around her neck, and her face crinkled into a wide smile.
Sitting a few feet away from the actors, 6-year-old Julissa Cortez was smiling, too. Earlier that day, she and her family had made the 30-mile-plus trek up the Peninsula from East Palo Alto to the Sub-Acute Saratoga Children’s Hospital to pay a routine visit to her brother, Erik. They hadn’t expected to see princesses and wizards there.
In the hospital’s activities room, Kaitlyn, a sophomore at Presentation High School, and Alessandro, a Bellarmine College Preparatory sophomore, quickly retreated to the side of the room, designated as a makeshift backstage, to change out of their royal frocks and into wardrobe for their next act. Their audience, comprised of a handful of young patients and their families, looked on; occasionally, a nurse or hospital staff member passing by in the hallway would stop in and watch.
At the culmination of the hour-long program, the seven-member cast, along with stage manager J.T. Hulme and producer and director Jack McCarthy, took a bow before walking up to each audience member to thank them for coming to the show.
Alessandro and Jack posed for a photo with Erik and asked him if he’d enjoyed his time. Then the cast was off on its next mission, going room to room and performing segments of their show for patients who were too ill to leave their beds.
For Jack, 16, the Feb. 8 show, titled “GIFT’s Comedy Collection of Memories,” was a special one; it marked the one-year anniversary of a theater group he created in January 2013 to bring live performances to those who are unable to experience it regularly, such as the hospitalized and elderly.
Aptly named GIFT, short for Giving Individuals Fabulous Theater, the group has performed throughout the Bay Area–including Saratoga, Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Los Gatos and San Jose–for audiences ranging in age from 2 to 107. The performances range from short dramatic or musical skits to comedy routines, such as “Who’s on First?”
The performers are middle and high school students, and in GIFT’s first year more than 40 of them volunteered to produce, perform and help direct plays and musicals. The group is entirely led, organized and run by students ages 11 to 18.
Producing GIFT shows is not without its challenges, Jack said. Providing smooth transitions, making quick costume changes and maintaining the audience’s interest in the absence of a contiguous plot are among the major obstacles.
Offstage, a different set of challenges faces the students. Coordinating schedules, obtaining props and costumes and making time to prepare and rehearse for the shows are significant challenges. For this particular show, the cast had squeezed in only eight rehearsals, held on weekends and late evenings.
One unique thing about GIFT, said cast member Melinda Wisdom, 14, is the lack of competitive rivalry among the actors.
“We all work so hard on the show,” she said, “and we all need each other’s help.”
Melinda, a freshman at Harker High School, said she has been acting with Jack since she was in third grade. Last year, she received a call from Jack asking if she’d be interested in auditioning for GIFT. She agreed and has been with the group since. Above all, she said she admired Jack’s professionalism.
“When it’s GIFT time, he just puts his heart in the play,” Melinda said. “I don’t know how he does it.”
Alessandro, 15, said he, too, jumped at the opportunity to work with Jack when he was approached about GIFT last summer. “Jack’s an amazing director [who] helps you get better at acting,” he said.
The idea for GIFT came to Jack in 2012 at the International Thespian Society leadership conference at Santa Clara University. It was there, said Jack, that he realized for the first time just how much of an impact theater has on people. For inspiration, Jack looked to his grandparents, who were always in and out of hospitals.
“How many of us can quote a few lines from our favorite movies? Or perhaps if we are shaky on the words, how many of us could describe a specific scene from a show?” said Jack. “We sometimes forget exactly what was said, or exactly what happened. But we are left with that feeling the performance left us.”
Soon after he conceived the idea, it didn’t take long for Jack, then a sophomore at Saratoga High School, to get the program up and running. It was only a matter of phoning his theater friends, both at school and those from his theater programs, and informing them about his plans. Recruiting friends and even his own siblings, he formed his cast and raised money for props and costumes.
Once all the elements were in place, Jack took his show on the road, performing at senior centers, assisted living units and nursing homes. The shows are customized to the location and audience, said Jack.
Occasionally, the group will give a public show and collect money through donations for local causes. Thus far, GIFT has raised about $3,500 for church charity projects, youth ministries, homeless causes and children’s hospitals.
But the feel-good stuff aside, GIFT is just fun, Jack said.
“Despite all the work, all the hardship, we all leave with smiles on our faces and we hope others do, too,” he said. “It’s not like anything I’ve ever felt.”
GIFT cast member Constanza “Constance” Bravo-Rossainz, 16, who like Jack is a junior at Saratoga High, echoed that sentiment. She joined, she said, to help people.
“I don’t come here for just the acting, but more the smiles I can give someone else,” she said.
Constance joined the cast in November and recalled one of her very first shows with GIFT. It was the last time they’d performed at the Sub-Acute Saratoga Children’s Hospital and at one point she glanced over at the audience and noticed the kids smiling.
“It just broke my heart–broke my heart in a good way,” she said. “And, it was beautiful.”
Jack said his ultimate goal is to apply for nonprofit status. He wants to see GIFT perform at bigger facilities, with frequent performances and others taking on his roles of producing and directing from time to time, especially when he goes off to college next year.
At various times in his life, Jack said he has considered studying medicine, business and theater; GIFT, he said, allows him to combine all three disciplines.
“I call GIFT my dream come true,” Jack said. “With this, I get to do theater, help run a company and help people feel better.”
For more information, visit GIFT’s Facebook page at facebook.com/theatergift.
Group’s young members take performances to those who can’t experience live theater
