Chelsea Braverman doesn’t mind ‘Rockin’ the Boat’ a little

Chelsea Braverman knows all about taking a group of energetic kids, assigning them roles and building a theater production from the ground up.

Heck, she’s been doing it since age 7.

While icons like Charlie Chaplin and Clint Eastwood drew acclaim later in life for starring and directing simultaneously, Braverman first pulled off the feat in second grade when she persuaded her teacher to let her oversee the class production of “Annie.” In the ensuing years, the Chicago native taught theater in her hometown and New York City, and she founded the Braver Players, a youth acting program based in Newport Beach, last year.

Now, Braverman’s crew is kicking off its new season with the 1950s musical “Guys and Dolls,” set to open Nov. 20 at the Attic Community Theater in Santa Ana. A few days before the latest round of would-be Sky Mastersons and Nathan Detroits were set to audition, Braverman talked about her life as a theater mentor at the company’s Newport rehearsal space. The following are excerpts from the conversation:

*

You call your company the Braver Players. Who exactly are they braver than?

[laughs] We are brave in that the material I select is material that teens want to do. We don’t censor anything, so we did “Grease” and we did the script as written. We are brave in that the choices that we make are real, brave choices that are true to the actors in themselves and the script, and we’re Braver Players because I’m Chelsea Braverman. So I wanted to do something with my last name.

So when you did “Grease,” you had the kids singing, “Look at me, I’m Sandra Dee / lousy with virginity”?

Yes. Yes. Yes, because it’s art, and it shouldn’t be censored, and actually, when you produce a play, you’re not supposed to change anything from the original script. And also, the age group that I’m working with now, 12 to 19, they’re seeing a lot worse on YouTube and TV than they are with musicals that have been around for 50 years. So they must be doing something right.

I always find it funny when they give a movie an R rating because it has a few F-words. It’s like, do the people on the ratings board ever visit middle schools?

Yes. And, you know, it’s opportunities to learn. When we did “Grease,” they smoked cigarettes onstage, and we addressed how, in the ‘50s, doctors smoked. There were certain cigarettes that they recommended over others. So I used that as teaching points to go back to the history and go back to the era and really talk about how it was back then. So I really like to stay true to what’s going on in the script.

You gave the kids fake cigarettes, though, right?

[laughs] Yes, of course. Of course. Cigarette props, yes. Not the candy cigarettes.

So you’re doing “Guys and Dolls” here for your first show of the coming season. I have to say, “Guys and Dolls” — my high school did it. Just about every high school has done it. What do you think the appeal is that this musical has?

The music is timeless. It lends itself to attracting lots of boys. There’s been an explosion lately with theater and boys, because I feel like boys are finally allowed to explore theater rather than just being encouraged to play sports. And, you know, we’ve got “Luck Be a Lady” and “The Oldest Established” and “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat,” and these are all amazing songs that boys want to sing and dance to. They want to play Harry the Horse. They want to play Nicely Nicely. They want to play Liver Lips Louie. They’re interesting characters that jump off the page.

Well, how about Nathan Detroit?

Nathan Detroit, Sky Masterson. So I feel like, even though it’s been done so many times, it’s been done so many times for a reason — because the music is so good, because the story is so good, because it’s about being lucky in life and lucky in love. It speaks to audiences, and it speaks to the teenagers as well.

Are you going to have the cast watch the Frank Sinatra-Marlon Brando version?

You know, I think a lot of them already have in preparation for the show. A lot of the kids go from show to show to show with me, and whenever I announce the season, like in the spring, for what the next year is going to be, they get excited, and they usually rent the movie and research it, listen to the songs, go on YouTube, watch clips. So I’m sure a lot of them have seen it.

Let’s talk a little about your background. I understand that you directed a musical for the first time when you were 7 years old.

Yes. I was “Annie” in my second-grade classroom. My teacher, Mrs. Lass, had a piano and she said, “Let’s put on a play,” and I said, “Let’s do ‘Annie.’ I’ll be Annie. I’ll direct it. I’ll have my mom go home and type out the script. I’ll make the boy I like [play] Sandy so he can lay on my lap during rehearsals.” I told everyone where they should stand and what part they were going to be. And so I was essentially directing at age 7.

“And doing ‘Annie’ was how I learned how to read. So after that — from, you know, when kids are supposed to start reading and how they are forced to read books, actually, the first thing I read was a script. So it got me to love reading and to love that idea of reading out loud, readers theater. Interestingly enough, I went on to get my masters in English and my minor in drama, and so not much has changed since I was 7. I’m still kind of doing the same thing right now.

You must have been a persuasive kid to convince your teacher to let you be an actor-director at age 7. I don’t think I could have pulled that off when I was 7.

She loved it. She played the piano, and she was happy to see, I’m sure, one of her students find a love and explore that love of drama and the arts, and she let me run with it. So I’m very lucky I had her as a teacher.