This was one of the final rehearsals of the children’s musical that Parker has been directing as a part of his senior capstone project. Throughout the rehearsal, he dashed around the auditorium, adjusting props and giving last-minute notes to his young performers.

“Just be confident,” Scanio said, as he wrapped up the rehearsal. “You know this show. You know it, so you’re going to rock it.”

–

Coming full circle

–

This is Scanio’s first time in the official role of director, but you wouldn’t know.

Part of this is thanks to his mentor for the project and longtime theater teacher, Jessica Deeb. She is currently the music teacher at St. Agnes School and she worked for many years for Rising Star Productions, a children’s theater program hosted by the Lake Placid Center for the Arts. Parker’s first theater performance was under her directorship. At 5 years old, Scanio was in a group of kids recruited to sing in a children’s choir for a production of “Evita,” a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, at the LPCA. Now, he’s the director, and Deeb couldn’t be prouder.

“I’m so proud, so proud,” she said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.”

Scanio has participated in just about every theater experience available to him since his preschool years. He was a part of Rising Star Productions up until ninth grade and has been involved with Pendragon Theatre in Saranac Lake, as well as the theater productions at the middle/high school. However, Rising Star Productions is no longer operating, after having fizzled out somewhat during the pandemic. This left a void in the children’s theater options in the area, which Parker set out to fill.

“There was no one to continue this legacy of the children’s theater in Lake Placid,” Scanio said. “So I thought, what would be a better senior project than to provide an opportunity for kids to do theater and to start them young.”

Scanio’s capstone project was approved at the end of last year. Over the summer, he and Deeb planned for the performance. She pulled out all of her scripts — she has a collection of short musicals that she likes to do with her music students at St. Agnes — and they settled on Pinocchio. Parker said he chose it because it’s an older story and he wanted to introduce the students to something new.

–

Learning to lead

–

While Scanio has a lot of experience performing, directing takes a whole new set of skills. His past leadership experiences helped. He was an assistant director for the middle school play when he was in 10th grade, and that summer helped out at a week long theater camp that Deeb led at the LPCA.

Deeb said it’s clear that Scanio has been watching and learning from the directors that he has worked with.

“Between his theater experience and just his general organizational skills — he’s an amazingly organized person — he wasn’t afraid to grab the bull by the horns,” Deeb said.

The hardest part of learning to direct a production has been the management skills, Scanio said. For example, he’s had to work with the administration at the school and district level to figure out bussing and transportation for rehearsals.

So even though he maintains a strict, professional demeanor in rehearsals, they really are the easy part, and his favorite part. They held auditions for the musical in the second week of September and have been rehearsing three times per week since then.

“I may seem mean and scary in trying to get these kids to do the work,” Scanio said. “But they’ve done so well.”

–

Teaching confidence

–

The very first performance that Parker prepared for was a production of “Peter Pan” when he was in Deeb’s preschool class as a four year old.

“When I walked in, the audience was way too daunting, so I just sat on my mom’s lap,” Scanio said.

During the rehearsal with the LPES students, Scanio told another story from his early performance years. During the production of “Evita” at the LPCA, he tried to go to the bathroom but got stuck behind the heavy, slightly sticky door. They found him eventually, after he had been crying and banging on the door, and he conveniently started the first scene of the musical, which is a funeral scene, with real tears on his face.

He’s come a long way since then. Now he is preparing audition materials to apply for college theater programs. His favorite character that he’s played so far was Ms. Trunchbull in the LPHS production of “Matilda.” Ms. Trunchbull is the comically unlikable antagonist of the story, and Deeb said Scanio never broke character, even off-stage.

“To have that freedom to play such an extravagant character, I think, is just so much fun,” Scanio said.

That’s one of the big ideas behind children’s theater — helping them find freedom and confidence, he said.

“Theater helped me gain confidence with myself and I think giving I’m (the students) an opportunity to finally feel confident in themselves with something they do,” Scanio said. “Because when you’re on stage, if you’re not confident, what are you? So it’s giving them this opportunity to shine.”

The musical will be performed at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Oct. 24 and 25, in the Lake Placid Middle/High School auditorium. The shows are free and open to the public, and Scanio said he’d like to “fill the house.”