Alamo Theatre Program Brings Students Confidence and Communication Skills

Alamo’s Lamplight Little Theatre will begin its latest instruction cycle on Sept. 14, marking nearly 25 years of teaching local children the fundamentals of stage performance under its new operator.

The theatre is run by Renae Evans, an Alamo native and social studies teacher for the Wheeler County School System for 30 years. While at the school, she also served as a librarian and would teach theatre whenever the classes were allowed.

The Lamplight Little Theatre actually predates Evans, as it was founded in 1980 by Ed Robbins. According to her, Robbins was a “stickler” for using the British spelling of the word “theatre” for Lamplight.

“He was a stickler about that,” said Evans.

Robbins retired from teaching theatre in 2000 and offered the building to Evans, who had gone through his version of the program herself. She purchased the building and began producing and teaching in it 2001.

Eventually, Evans retired as a Wheeler County teacher in 2026, but she still intends to teach children who sign up for the Lamplight Little Theatre program.

“I retired from school, but I told everybody I’m not retiring from being a teacher,” said Evans.

The Lamplight Little Theatre hosts four 45-minute classes on Mondays, featuring a kindergarten through second grade class, a third grade through fifth grade class, a sixth grade to eighth grade class and a ninth grade to twelfth grade class.

In recent years, Evans has centered her theatre program’s focus towards addressing a lack of confidence in the younger generations. 

“You know, even at the high school…, they would come in, and they would hand you money to buy something, and then just, like, look at you,” said Evans. “They wouldn’t greet you. They wouldn’t smile at you. I mean, it’s not that they’re being rude, but they just, they didn’t know how to start the conversation.”

Evans is not anti-technology, but instead she places emphasis on the face-to-face interactions in her program, which children may be less adept at due to time spent interacting indirectly via screens.

“I’m sure you’ve recognized – everybody’s recognized – we have lost the art of communication in our society, and so I’m really big on communication, and teaching self-confidence and presence in the moment, and how to communicate when you’re not behind a screen,” said Evans. 

Over time, Evans has moved towards a focus on instilling stage basics as opposed to polish for a performance. She aims to create a space for both the shy student and the naturally dramatic student. 

“It’s perfect for both your hands and your shy kids, because it brings them out and lets them know, you know, this is my safe space,” said Evans. “This is how I communicate, and this is how I start things.”

To help students express themselves more openly, she also limits parent visits to only the first class, as “when the parents are there, they just kind of shut down their creativity.” Every class after the first is a closed class.

She teaches her classes primarily through games, skits and improvisation exercises, although the distribution of each depends on the age range of her classes. Younger classes tend to prefer games, while older kids tend to prefer performing skits.

“The kids might think that, ‘Oh, Mom, we just played a bunch of games tonight at theatre,’ but what they’re gaining is self-awareness, and communication skills and freedom of movement,” said Evans. “There are a lot of games in theatre that teach, and the kids may not know they’re being taught, but they’re learning as they play them.”

Evans recounted one game called “prop in a box” where she brought a salvaged part from an old school laminator, and she asked the class to invent a purpose other than what it was actually for. According to Evans, the class invented 52 new uses for the piece.

“The kids are just booming with creativity,” said Evans.

While Lamplighter Little Theatre is not focused on holding performances, Evans and her students do hold three spring recitals to showcase the progress the students have made. Students have performed a variety of plays, with popular performances including “Seabreeze 9”, a satire of heist movies in which various aspects of the play itself go awry; and “High Schooler’s Guide to the Galaxy, a favorite of Evans.

The program has also received input from playwright Don Zolidus, who has offered suggestions for performances which would fit the program’s class size.

“He has just been a wonderful friend through theatre,” said Evans.

According to Evans, the program has had a positive impact on students, with some telling her they landed jobs with the skills learned in the Lamplight Little Theatre. The program also brings her “complete, 100 percent joy.”

“I love interacting with the kids,” said Evans. “The kids are so creative.”