On Tuesday evening, they filtered in – working moms, working dads.  Some wore weary expressions and slightly rumpled business suits – tell-tale signs of a hectic day and a dash from the office. The evening ahead would mean singing, dancing, and acting…not your typical volunteer event.

Those who have been here before know this night begins a kind of adventure, one that will lead them in and out of spotlights and sequins, box steps and spin turns – a journey that will culminate in February with a song, a bow, and a sense of contribution and community participation.

Those new to the experience will find out soon enough.

All are the high school parents who will become the cast and crew of Ridgewood High School Jamboree 2011, and they all came out to the Ridgewood Campus Center for the final of three auditions.

Jamboree is a 66-year old Ridgewood tradition in which the parents of RHS students, and only the parents of RHS students, come together to stage a song and dance, variety-style show to raise money for graduating RHS senior scholarships. The program has a profitable record of accomplishment, typically netting more than $100,000 each year. 

However, creating the annual extravaganza is a mighty task.

While the auditions are the first step for the new cast, a group of producers and committees – along, of course, with the director – have already been working on the scripting and staging for several months. Each year, Jamboree gets an original script built around a theme of danceable, sing-able, recognizable songs.

Alane Steinacker is one of this year's three show producers.

"We actually started in February," she said. This is her first year producing and her fourth year participating. She explains, producing takes "an unbelievable amount of hours and effort – so much to learn about and organize, so many people to meet with, businesses to contact, volunteers to coordinate, strategies to explore, follow-up, follow-through."

The term audition is a bit of a stretch, because it suggests a selective process. "We probably shouldn't even call it auditions, because everybody gets into the show. It's more like casting," explained another of this year's producers, Bill Dimodugno.   

So, everyone gets a role in the show. Talent is optional. However, Ridgewood is apparently teeming with once and future stage professionals. The village also has its share of living room dancers, shower singers, former high school actors, and closet comedians. Jamboree is a chance for all of them to express those hidden gifts. For those who truly do not possess onstage skills, producers promise, there is plenty of room for them in the cast as well. It is all about participation and collaboration.

"I like to refer to it as 'camp for adults'" says Steinacker. "As in a typical summer camp atmosphere, many of our differences are neutralized in our common goal of getting our steps right, or speaking our lines on queue, and working together to produce the result our choreographers, vocal coaches, and directors are pushing us towards."

The audition process involves group singing and dancing as well as some strategically designed acting tests.

In one such test, performers choose an index card printed with a character-type and then "speed-date" another performer.  Each is"in character" and playing to the audience.

Now that "auditions" are over, the players go home and back to their "non theater" lives, but the director and producers get back to work.

All reunite on January 4. That is when the cast will find out more about the script – which has been a matter of great secrecy – and about their roles. Six weeks of intense rehearsals, and the show will go on in February.

The theme this year: "That's Life." Steinacker is not forthcoming about many details beyond that, saying only "scenes will progress through four general areas of life – Work, Family, Community, and Love."

Soon enough, these parent-performers will be fully overtaken with stage fever – swapping those staid and serious business and street clothes for the flash of color, sequins, and rhinestones; learning dance steps and show tunes; overcoming stage jitters and embracing the spotlight. And, more than likely, they and their audience will be smiling.

However, the biggest smiles will come during the RHS Scholarship Awards Ceremony in June.

Steinacker says, "The joy is in both providing scholarships for those in need, and in enjoying the fruits of everything that occurs socially and creatively. Whether it's singing, dancing, rehearsing together, laughing, or stressing over stage nerves, in the end we feel a stronger connection with each other, a sense of pride and accomplishment, and are very happy we took part in it."