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play because it made me 
fall in love with theater 
and being on stage telling 
stories to an audience,” 
said Valimont, who dates 
that first experience back 
20 years.
“We have eight kids in 
the show, and they are 
part of a youth ensemble. 
They’re basically helping 
to tell the stories, and they 
play animals in Noah’s ark. 
We had open auditions in 
January, and each person 
auditioning sang and 
danced for us. We chose 
from there.” 
Valimont, whose theater 
interests were interrupted 
by a college that didn’t have 
a theater program, started 
back with community 
theater after earning a 
business management 
degree at McKendree 
University in Illinois.
“I started with 
Stagecrafters in 2019 when 
I was in Ragtime,” the 
director said. “That was my 
first show there, and I’ve 
been in a couple of other 
shows there. I mainly do 
Stagecrafters programs, but 
I also do other community 
theater shows as well.
“There is a ton of 
beautiful messages in the 
show. There’s an overall 
theme of relationships 
between parents and 
children and getting to the 
point where parents have 
to be able to let go and let 
children make their own 
mistakes and be their own 
people. 
“There’s also choosing 
love instead of hate. Second 
chances is another theme.”
Valimont’s favorite song 
in the show comes with 

the finale because of the 
lines that relate to her own 
outlook.
“There’s a part that 
goes something like this: 
‘Our hands can choose 
to drop the knife, and 
our hands can choose to 
stop the hating. For every 
moment of our lives is the 
beginning. There’s just 
talking about mistakes 
you’ve made, and you can 
always start over.’ We leave 
the audience with beautiful 
messages.”
While it is Valimont’s 
first time taking on the 
responsibilities of director, 
it is Amelia’s first time 
being on stage, and she lets 
people know she is liking 
that opportunity very much. 
“The kids play a lot of 
different parts, whether kids 
or animals,” Amelia said. 
”It’s super fun. I like the 
stories of the play, and my 
role is really fun because I 
get to do so many things. 
“My brother found out 
about the play, and we 
both decided to audition 
for it. We have rehearsals 
a few times a week, and 
we don’t have too many 
scheduling conflicts. We 
learn expressions and how 
to make it feel like it is all 
happening right there in 
front of the audience. 
“I definitely will try out 
for other parts.” 

Details
Children of Eden runs 
through April 21 at the 
Baldwin Theatre, 415 S. 
Lafayette, Royal Oak. 
Tickets start at $25.
 (248) 541-6430. 
Stagecrafters.org.

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THEATER

 

