by Julie Berg-Raymond
According to the Kids Theatre Network, “Education in the performing arts provides young people with lasting life skills and personal attributes, such as discipline, self-esteem, focus and a sense of teamwork, as well as superior communication and social skills.”
No one needed to tell any of the kids in the Wolfpack Theater Company in Waukon that, though. The core group of young people who make up what they affectionately call the “wolf pack” could be the poster kids for the benefits of youth theater.
Led by Milwaukee-born choreographer, actor, dancer, and director (also parent, and local businessman – he owns Teddy’s Bearly Used Autos in Waukon) Adam Hooten, the young people who constitute the professional theater company Hooten only recently formed, are already inspiring others with their maturity, self-possession, and commitment to community service.