BY IVAN SANDERS

STAR STAFF

ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com

Often important landmarks and pieces of history are allowed to go to the wayside for lack of interest and not understanding the relevance that those places have played in the history of a community.

That’s something that Chrisann Watts Tull and the Watts Dance Studio Musical Theater summer intensive group doesn’t want to happen to the beloved Bonnie Kate Theater in downtown Elizabethton.

For that reason, the group will be doing a benefit performance on Friday evening at 7 p.m. as the dance team will be taking the stage for a short program to help raise money to keep the theater a thriving part of Elizabethton’s history.

There will not be any admission charged with the goal of being able for those who attend to donate as much money as possible in support of the group’s fundraiser as every penny raised is given to the Bonnie Kate restoration project.

This will be the second year for the fundraiser and even though Tull couldn’t remember the exact amount raised, she said they hope to exceed last year’s total.

“It’s a benefit show,” Tull said about the program. “We do a musical theater intensive so it just lays right into the Bonnie Kate getting these kids aware about theater and the Bonnie Kate is our theater.

“They have done a great job of building a stage in there and are trying to get it refurbished.”

The labor of love from Tull and her students is something they take very seriously and work hard to present a review that is both entertaining and educational.

“We work all week long on show tunes from Broadway and some from television with most of what we are doing this year mainly from Broadway,” said Tull. “Time spent leading up to the performance included learning choreography, stage direction, and things that pertained to the theater.

“We also teach them about theater, how they can get jobs in theater, and the training involved in getting into theater. However, the basic thing we teach is dance because we are a dance studio.”

The performers for the review range in age from second grade to high school. The program is limited due to the size of the stage so the dancers were selected on a first come, first serve basis to get to be a part of the intensive as it fills very quickly.

Tull feels that the preservation of the theater is something that everyone should take to heart as the theater has been an integral part of the downtown area for many years.

“It’s incredibly important because we believe in Elizabethton staples and things that have been here traditionally for a long time,” Tull stated. “Mom started this studio 68 years ago and she is continuously telling these kids about the history of Elizabethton and how we have had the Bonnie Kate all the way through.

“She even remembers dancing at the Bonnie Kate when there was a stage in front of the movie theater screen. From mom to performing there to sharing it all these years later with these tiny ones that is an important aspect to our community and our town.”

Not only does the benefit help out the Bonnie Kate, but the experience that the young participants take away from performing also helps with their growth as well.

“We want them to have an opportunity to be on stage and perform,” Tull said about her students. “It helps with their self-confidence and helps them to grow as a person.

“We have little ones that are so shy they can hardly look up at you and then all of a sudden they get on the stage and are looking up and smiling and telling a story with their movement. Parents are always amazed at what their kids do as far as their growth from performing.”