Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Jonathan Oleson plays Nic, the lead role in this year's musical 'Nic at Night,' the story of the Pharisee Nicodemus, who came in the night to visit Jesus.

Spring Fling

Children's musicals began as a lark, continue as tradition

By Sandy Sims

On the evenings of June 3 and 4, the Baptist church across from Daves Avenue School will rock with little voices. Family and friends will cheer and their eyes will tear as, once again, the church puts on its children's spring concert.

In a time when stadium-sized concerts net rivers of money for rock stars, initial public offerings (IPOs) accrue millions for Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and put-on-the-dawg charity balls fetch humongous donations for nonprofits, it's nice to know that here in Los Gatos an event is staged just for the love of it. They've been doing it for some 14 years. And it's free.

Every Christmas and spring, children--from the very shy to the button-busting ham--dazzle the audience at First Baptist Community Church of Los Gatos with Bible story musicals, such as Fat, Fat Jehoshaphat, My Way or Yahweh, It's the Truth Ruth and Wise Guys & Starry Skies. And every one of those shows has blossomed under the direction of Judy Maas.


Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Andrew Sinclair, 7, of Monte Sereno uses his rehearsal time to practice flying like a butterfly.




This year it's Nic at Night, the story of the Pharisee Nicodemus, who came in the night to visit Jesus.

The performing youngsters are not all church members. They may attend the church's Oak Tree After School Care program, Daves Avenue school or come from Monte Sereno.

Maas, the assistant director of Oak Tree, ensures that everyone who wants a part gets one. There're the chorus, solos, bit parts, big parts and the stars. Shy youngsters often begin in the chorus and in subsequent concerts try their wings in bit parts and, then, small speaking parts. Later, they might even sing a solo, or move right up the chain to star level. "That's the best part of all," says Maas, "watching these kids grow and gain confidence."


Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Los Gatan Madeline Herder, 7, practices waving colored banners in time to music for one of the scenes in 'Nic at Night.'




There are those born hams such as fifth-grader Jonathan Oleson, who plays Nic, the lead role. Jonathan, an Oak Tree After School student, has been stealing shows ever since first grade. He's a natural comedian. But Nic is a new kind of role for him; this character is serious--no funny stuff.

Then there're youngsters like 10-year-old Kevin Wyllie, who's been in the chorus since kindergarten and this year has his first speaking part, Phrank Pharisee. "He's not shy," his mother Dianne Wyllie says. "He's just more involved in sports than in acting." She says Kevin is always singing the show songs around the house.

Maas finds the plays for her programs in religious stores, or simply by stumbling upon them. Her favorite plays are written by Kathy Hill. But Maas takes the plays and does her own snipping; she also adds dialogue and scenes where she can, so she can include as many children as possible. If a youngster asks for a speaking part, Maas makes sure one is created. In fact, she makes the play work for 50 or 60 youngsters, ranging from kindergartners to seventh- or eighth-graders.


Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Alexa Keller, 9, of Monte Sereno, sings a song during rehearsals for 'Nic at Night.'




Maas remembers one little girl who refused to sign up for a concert. Then her uncle came to town, and the girl signed right away and sang a solo. In the next concert, she wanted to be the star.

When Maas started the children's musicals 14 years ago, it was with a why-don't-we-give-it-a-try outlook, she says. She got her inspiration from across the street and from across state lines.

In spring 1986, Maas attended the Daves Avenue spring musical, where students performed the classic musical Annie. Maas was impressed with the quality of the show. In fact, she thought the Daves' performance surpassed the professional performance staged at the same time in downtown San Jose.

That summer Maas and her family vacationed in Utah and Nevada where they attended a Bible story musical at one of the churches they visited. The show included children. "I thought it would be great to do a Bible story show like that with all children," Maas says.

Maas had never done a production before, but she stepped out in faith and proposed to the fifth- and sixth-grade girls that they put on a Christmas show for the church. She found a play called The Little Christmas Lamb. The children's choir sang and eight or nine girls performed the dialogue.

"Our productions were simple back then," Maas recalls. "Everyone was so impressed with the first show, they wanted us to do it again."


Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Director Judy Maas, center, goes over some staging moves during a rehearsal with her students.




For three years, the children performed a Christmas program. Then in 1989, Maas kicked off a spring show with the musical God with a Capital G. From then on it's been two musicals each year.

Maas, who's never done drama herself, says, "I'm too inhibited for that." But she knows how to direct. In fact, she has become a complete production company. She designs the set, the costumes and much of the choreography--but not without the help of family and church members.

Her husband, Ralph, and daughter, Shelly, are big players in production. Ralph is the man behind the scenes. He builds whatever needs to be built for the set, and videotapes the performance. Shelly does much of the choreography.

Maas does enjoy singing, so she isn't all that inhibited. She says she's always been musical. So is Ralph. And since Maas joined the church in 1954 as a teenager, she's either led the children in songs or been singing herself: in solos, duets or trios and for the church choir.

Since her teenage days, the Daves Avenue Baptist Church and Los Gatos have almost always been a big part of Maas' life. As a teen, Maas lived on Vineland in Monte Sereno before all the new houses sprang up. Then her family moved to Los Gatos, across from the high school.


Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Five-year-old Los Gatan Cara Cross, right, sings and dances during rehearsal.




Even after Maas and her husband had lived in Wisconsin for 15 years, they returned to the church. They couldn't, however, afford to move back to Los Gatos. So even though they lived and raised their four children in San Jose, most of their living is in Los Gatos. "I love it here, but we just can't afford to live here," she says, adding that they see a doctor in Los Gatos and retain other ties.

Maas and her husband have always been devoted to children. In addition to the concert and the after-school care, the twosome act as commanders for the church's Tuesday night AWANA (Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed) program at the church, where youngsters come to learn Bible verses and play games.

Maas has been in on the Oak Tree After School Care program since it started in 1983. Most of the young participants are students at Daves Avenue school. So many children have participated in the concerts over the years that it's difficult to walk the streets of Los Gatos or Monte Sereno without bumping into a former Maas protégé.

Los Gatan Jamie Ozimek, 11, has singing and acting parts in 'Nic at Night.'

Photograph by Kathy De La Torre







Jake Cathey, who is playing Phorrest Pharisee in Nic at Night, has a 15-year-old sister, Caitlin, who was in several of Maas' shows. Caitlin returned to Oak Tree to complete her Los Gatos High School community service requirement by helping out with the plays. Oak Tree alumna Libby Hunter, 18, has also returned to work at Oak tree and to help with the musicals. "It's funny to be on the other side of the show," Libby says, "telling the kids what to do, where to stand."

"We are not church members," Jake's mom, Cathy Cathey, says, "but we love it there. It's a sweet and loving place. The kids are gently encouraged to do the best they can." Seven-year-old Jake has been in four or five plays since kindergarten, although this will be the first time he has a speaking role.

Cathy Oleson, mother of Nic at Night's young star Jonathan, says, "Judy takes the shyest and most retiring children and puts them in the chorus." Oleson, who is not a member of the church, says it's fun to watch the children advance from the chorus to choreography to wanting lines of their own.

But Maas never pushes. She lets the children find their own places in the plays. Jonathan's older brother, now a high-school student, was an Oak Tree youngster, too. He pretty much stayed in the chorus. Oleson says, adding "he was the shy type."


Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Aisling Sinclair and Alexa Keller, both 9-year-old Monte Sereno residents, play and dance while waiting for their 'Nic at Night' rehearsal to begin.




Maas wants her plays to be fun for everyone. "I tell the kids we will make some mistakes on Saturday and different ones on Sunday, but it will be great," she says. Since the youngsters have been learning the spring concert songs since February, they will be ready to really belt them out when showtime comes around in a few weeks.

According to Jonathan, Maas is very easy-going until the week before the show. "Then she gets strict," he says.

The last week is when all the different parts, scenes, songs, speaking parts and choreography finally come together. Until then, sections rehearse separately. When they get to dress rehearsal, it seems like they need a miracle to pull it all together, Maas says. She reassures the cast that "It'll all come together."

But she usually wrestles with her own fears.

"Judy is usually nervous right before the show," says Roger McCarty, the church's senior pastor who often reassures her. By Friday, she doesn't know how it will go and prays about it. McCarty has been there for four years and says he hasn't seen one play that didn't succeed. Besides, he says, it's the glitches that make for fun memories.


Photograph by Kathy De La Torre

Danny Davis, 5, of Los Gatos, joins other children in running in circles with a scarf. It's part of a routine they'll soon perform for an audience.




"Once," Maas remembers, "the opening night didn't go very well. We had been telling the kids to watch us and pay attention for direction. They didn't and things didn't go well."

The next night the little performers felt terrible about their sloppy first night. "They got it," Maas says, "and I think the second performance might have been the best ever."

"Directing the concerts is Judy's passion," McCarty says. "It's amazing to watch the sanctuary transformed every Christmas and spring." After the show, Oak Tree Director Claire Ramba makes sure there are always refreshments--a break both students and teacher have more than earned.

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For more information about the performance, call the First Baptist Community Church of Los Gatos at 408.395.6144

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