Taking Sonoma's Young Performers to England - Jim Kent
Jim's Sonoma Journey - I Helped Build page
This is the third of three stories about Jim's relationship with Sonoma.
🟩 Weekend Visits Led Us to Sonoma - Chapter 1
🟥 Two Acres and a Back-to-the-Land Dream - Chapter 2
🟦 Taking Sonoma's Young Performers to England - Chapter 3 (You are reading this story.)
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Jim had enjoyed acting since he was young, and his daughter Daisy shared that interest. They appeared in local productions together before Jim was invited to direct young performers in Sonoma. What began as a temporary assignment grew into several years of shows and eventually took a Sonoma youth production to a Gilbert and Sullivan festival in England. The applause was unforgettable, but the lasting reward has been the connection Jim still feels with the performers and the memories they created together.
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I have been interested in theater for most of my life.
I acted in grammar school and high school, and that interest stayed with me after I moved to Sonoma. My daughter Daisy became interested in performing as she grew up, which gave the two of us something special to share.
Daisy and I appeared in a number of local plays together, including productions connected with Kate Kennedy's long-running Shakespeare program at Buena Vista. We would each have a part, and I could help prompt and encourage her along the way.
My involvement with young performers grew through the Sonoma Valley Children's Chorale.
At the time, the larger local chorale sometimes needed children's voices for its concerts. Linda Rawls, who had a musical background and was a member of the chorale, organized about a dozen young singers. Daisy was one of them.
The children's group improved, became better known, and began putting on its own shows.
During one production, the director needed to leave for New York for a couple of weeks. Linda asked me to step in and direct the children while the director was away.
I enjoyed it, and the children responded well to me. At the end of the season, Linda asked me to continue directing them.
One of our next productions was based on Peanuts and Charlie Brown. After that, we staged Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance."
The production was performed at the high school theater and was so well received that we sold out our shows.
I sent a video of the production to a Gilbert and Sullivan festival in England. The response came quickly: They wanted the group to come perform at the festival the following summer.
That invitation gave us an enormous project. We began raising money, organizing the trip, and preparing the young performers to take a Sonoma production across the Atlantic.
The experience in England was unforgettable.
We performed twice. The audience for the first show was not especially large, but the second performance nearly filled a good-sized theater.
During the final musical number, the audience began clapping to the rhythm of the music. Then the performers onstage shifted into their own clapping pattern. The audience immediately picked it up, and suddenly everyone in the theater was sharing the same rhythm.
At the end, the young performers came off the stage and greeted people in the audience. The farewell built into the production felt real because the children had traveled all the way from America and would soon be going home.
People remained in the theater long after the performance ended. Some were crying. It was a powerful response and a wonderful experience for the group.
The trip did not end when we returned to Sonoma.
For years afterward, I would see former performers around town. They had grown into teenagers and young adults, but we were always happy to see one another. They would run over, give me a hug, and remember the shows and the trip we had shared.
Many of them are parents themselves now, and many have moved away. But the connection remains part of my Sonoma life.
Theater gave my daughter and me a way to perform together. Directing gave me a way to encourage other young people. Taking the group to England showed those performers that something created in a small town could reach an audience far beyond Sonoma.
The applause in England is one of my strongest memories. What matters even more is the lasting affection among the people who created that experience together.
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Jim's lifelong interest in acting became something he shared with his daughter Daisy in local productions.
He began directing young performers after temporarily filling in during a Sonoma Valley Children's Chorale production.
A successful production of "The Pirates of Penzance" led to an invitation to perform at a Gilbert and Sullivan festival in England.
The group raised money, traveled to England, and received an emotional response from a nearly full theater.
Jim's lasting reward has been the bond he still shares with performers he directed when they were young.
Through theater, Jim helped give Sonoma children confidence, community, and an international experience.
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This story was created from a recorded conversation between Jim Kent and Don Lundgren as part of the Sonoma Stories project. The conversation was edited for clarity and length while preserving Jim's experiences, reflections, and voice. Once published, Jim may request changes at any time or ask to have the story removed.
