Rogers Front Porch Theatre provides family-friendly musicals

by Jessica Charpentier

APG of East Central Minnesota/Crow River News

Front Porch Musical Theatre was launched in 2011 in Rogers by Tim and Linda Lindeen after they moved to the area. The Lindeen’s realized the need for local theatre opportunities for children.

Before kicking off Front Porch Musical Theatre, Linda Lindeen was a music and theatre teacher and theatre director.

Tim Lindeen was in the business world, but has multiple theatre degrees and experience as an actor, so he often helped out when visiting the classroom.

“We moved up here to the Rogers area and at that time our grandkids were born and our daughters wanted the same opportunities for their kids that they had when I was teaching either in their school or directing at churches,” Linda Lindeen said.

Wanting to share musical theatre with students, they began at their daughter’s business Rogers School of Music in 2008 with only 18 students. The program grew quickly and they began hiring staff members.

As a result, the Lindeen’s daughter and sonin law encouraged them to branch off and start their own theatre business and in 2011, Front Porch Musical Theatre was born. At the time, students would go through the Lindeen’s front porch in order to enter their home for rehearsals.

Before long, Front Porch Musical Theatre outgrew using the Lindeen’s home for rehearsals and started renting space from churches. Then, after more expansion, they settled into an almost 5,000-square-foot rehearsal studio on 14180 Northdale Boulevard in 2016.

The theatre business operates on a semester basis, with two semesters that coincide similarly to school semesters. When students aren’t in school during the summer they can also participate in Front Porch Musical Theatre’s summer camp program.

“Most of our summer camps are one week, they start on a Monday, they end on a Friday. Then we invite the parents, grandparents and we build a stage in our rehearsal studio in Rogers and they perform,” Linda Lindeen said.

The summer camps also include group dance, acting and vocal classes. Class sizes are smaller in the summer than during the semesters. Semesters can consist of anywhere from 300 to 350 students.

Typically, during summer camps and semesters, students are divided into three different age groups which include 5- to 10-year-olds, 7- to 13-year-olds and 12- to 18-year-olds.

Some of the mini musicals in the summer are licensed from smaller companies but most of Front Porch Musical Theatre musicals are Disney or Broadway musicals licensed through Musical Theatre International in New York.

“We put our shows on about a four-year rotation, so say someone within the ensemble in ‘Frozen’ was one of the snowflake dancers, four years later they ended up as Elsa or Anna. So they can aspire to continue to grow,” Linda Lindeen said.

Front Porch Musical Theatre has performed many well-known shows such as “Frozen,” “Lion King,” “Annie,” “The Aristocats,” “Mary Poppins,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “The Jungle Book,” “101 Dalmatians” and more. The couple is family-driven and all 13 of their grandchild are or have acted before at Front Porch Musical Theatre and several family members work as staff members.

During summer camps, mini musicals take place all in five days in which they build the stage, rehearse and perform. Starting last week, Front Porch Musical Theatre began rehearsals for the Disney musical show “My Son Pinocchio Junior” on June 10, which will hit the stage July 12, 13 and 14.

Students ages 10 to 18 will perform in the show that will take place at Rogers High School Performing Arts Center and includes a full set, costumes, lighting, microphones and more.

There are still openings to join some summer camps such as “How to be a Great Disney Actor,” “Disney Sing and Dance,” “Toy Story You’ve Got a Friend Dance Camp” and more.

Dance classes or camps draw from multiple influences including ballet, jazz, tap, salsa and more. Classes and camps help students improve when auditioning next for a musical during an upcoming semester.

All students who enroll in a musical are part of the show as long as there are openings, and then auditions take place for specific roles after enrollment. During musicals, students are also trained to participate in technical theatre along with playing a role on stage.

“We’ll have what’s called a red and a blue cast, which are the leads in all of our older shows. So then the opposite cast will do the tech work, they may be running the lights or the sound or the spotlights or moving the sets or whatever backstage,” Tim Lindeen said.

Qualified staff members direct shows and teach classes including a stage manager, vocal director and multiple choreographers and vocal teachers. Some of the staff members used to be students at Front Porch Musical Theatre, including one of their choreographers who was in their first show in 2008.

“We just hope that we get the word out, because we know it’s great family entertainment and we want families to know that they can come and have live theatre, they don’t need to drive downtown to get that level of experience and expertise,” Linda Lindeen said.

Theatre instruction classes are also offered during semesters. For summer registration or to learn more about Front Porch Musical Theatre, go tofrontporchmusicaltheatre. com