By Allison Hersh
Coastal Parent

Katherine Keena made this costume for Laura, right, in "The Hobbitt."

For the Keena family, the play's the thing. All four members of this Savannah family share a passion for theater, performing in more than 80 local productions either individually or together.

Parents Jamie, 47, and Katherine, 48, instilled a love of theater and music in their children from a young age. Daughter Laura, 18, is an award-winning actress who plans to pursue a career in theater, while son John, 15, is a talented thespian who enjoys singing and acting.

Jamie, an accomplished musician and historic interpreter at Old Fort Jackson, appeared in his first show in 1970, a production of "Lil' Abner" at his high school in New Jersey. After majoring in music at William and Mary College, he pursued a career as a professional singer and musician, moving to Savannah with his wife in 1984.

For many years, he dressed up as Uncle Sam and performed patriotic music on River Street. Today, he enjoys playing a variety of instruments - ranging from banjo and fife to accordion and hammered dulcimer - and acting in community theater productions like "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum." "My children really got me back into the theater," he says. "It has been so much fun."

While Jamie enjoys the thrill of being onstage, Katherine prefers to work behind the scenes, making elaborate costumes for her husband and children. Although she briefly appeared onstage as a camel herder in Asbury Memorial Theater's 2000 production of "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," she admits that she has a passion for sewing, not acting.

This program manager at the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace started out creating extravagant Halloween costumes for her children - ranging from "Beauty and the Beast" to cowboys and Indians - and eventually hand-crafted creative costumes for legions of actors in local productions.

"I've sewn all my life," she says. "I love textiles and sewing and designing costumes, getting it all to look great. It's a way for me to hang out and be part of the production without having to actually be out onstage."

For the Keena children, theater began as a fun summer activity, as they attended the Department of Cultural Affairs' youth theater camp, presented by the City of Savannah, year after year.



Jamie Keena portrayed one of the three trolls in "The Hobbit." Katherine Keena was among the costumers for this production.

"Theater kind of mapped out our summers and it was fun," says John, a sophomore at Savannah Country Day School. "Now it's about letting yourself go. It's very relaxing to get onstage and not have to worry about anything except this person you're creating."

John has performed in a number of Youth Theater productions through the City of Savannah, high school plays and musicals, as well as the annual Savannah Shakespeare Festival. Since making his debut onstage at the age of four in a production of "Peter Pan," he has also developed as a singer, performing over the years with the Savannah Symphony and I Cantori.

Talent truly runs in the family for the Keenas. Earlier this year, Laura won the top award for Best Actress in the State at the Georgia High School Association's One-Act Play Competition. In the past several years, she has starred in a number of plays at City Lights Theatre, Savannah Country Day School and the Savannah Shakespeare Festival.

"To be able to explore different psyches and different people is quite appealing," she says. "You can be really mean and wicked or an innocent ingenue, but you don't have to live in that skin permanently. It's really liberating."

From July 31 through August 9, Laura will take center stage in the City of Savannah's production of "Cinderella" at the Savannah Civic Center, playing the title role. In the fall, she will attend Catholic University in Washington, D.C., majoring in musical theater.

What makes theater so appealing?

"It's just so much fun to go up onstage and make people laugh or make people cry," she says. "It touches on what is really human in all of us. Plays are concrete representations of things that we all go through."

For the Keenas, theater has served as a vital connection that brings the family closer and allows each individual to contribute his or her own unique talents. Life without the thrill of the stage seems unimaginable for this talented family.

"Theater has kept us doing the same activities together," Katherine says with a smile. "It's a real family affair."