FORT MYERS, Fla. — A part of back-to-school for so many students includes their activities after school is out, too.
One of the places working to reinforce confidence, kindness and passion in our community is Fort Myers Theatre off of McGregor Boulevard. Fox 4's Shari Armstrong got a look at the work put into the performances.
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The theater, tag-lined "Theater for All Ages" is the vision of founder Michelle Kuntze.
What started as a project during her time as a student at Florida Gulf Coast University 17 years ago has blossomed into a program that provides youth and adult theater opportunities right here in Southwest Florida.
In addition, the theater features various events throughout the week, too.
"I have kids sign up for every single show. I have kids four nights a week plus they're in our homeschool program. They are here all day," Kuntze says.
"We have seven productions a week. We have about 300 kids who come through our theater a week," she explained.
The performances during the summer took place every other week and included Finding Nemo, Jr., Lion King, Jr., and Frozen, Jr. That's amidst community theater performances that include Matilda and Legally Blonde the Musical.
Armstrong was impressed.
Not only were the students completely performing to the best of their abilities, but their productions were flawless.
As someone who has a shared love for musical theater and youth programming, Armstrong asked Michelle how the team at Fort Myers Theater is making this happen with 300 kids participating a week.
Jokingly, she revealed the answer - confirming Armstrong's suspicions: "It's a miracle."
We both laughed, and Armstrong would completely believe that to be true.
Instead, she explained, that a key part of her training is placing the responsibility of learning lines, character development, and choreography on the students.
"I'm not going to treat you like a little kid. I know that you are just a small human being, and that's okay. But you guys have brain power. You're going to be responsible for your space. I have faith in you," she said.
She says letting students know that she trusts, and believes in them pushes them to get the work done - leading to quick turnarounds in performances at the theater.
"The kids run everything," she said.
Michelle says after school programs, like Fort Myers Theatre, matter.
She explains that performance, for instance, teaches public speaking, body language, confidence and teamwork.
"I tell them you're going to use this outside of theater," she said.
In addition to the students whom Armstrong talked to all mentioning "Ms. Michelle" in some capacity, they also explained "kindness" is a big part of theater - almost every student mentioned this.
Because it's clearly an integral part of the program, Armstrong asked Michelle about this.
"It is the foundation of our program. It goes so much further than anything else. Even if they don't become theater majors, and they don't go off and open a theater...that they will keep that," she explained.
Kindness was manifested from the community, too, after Hurricane Ian wreaked havoc on the theater.
“We had to throw away all of floors, our ceilings…our microphones…and we’re still recovering from that," she said.
But, she says the community's support has helped the theater to rebuild - a process that hasn't stopped performances from continuing even right after the storm.
"The community helped clean it out. We did it without microphones. We did it without floors. But, we kept going," she said.
A momentum that's only continued nearly two years later.
The theater offers after school, homeschool, summer, community theater and other shows - including comedic and special events like wrestling.
You can learn more about the theater here.
