By Andrew Adler
Community Editor
Madelyn “Maddie” Behr
It was almost exactly two years ago — April 27, 2023, to be precise — that 10-year-old Madelyn “Maddie” Behr made her acting debut in CenterStage Academy’s production of Annie Jr at the Trager Family JCC and found herself giddily, joyously, hopelessly hooked.
Now on the cusp of teenagerhood (she turns 13 in June), Maddie, a seventh grader at Francis Parker School, is busy preparing for her Bat Mitzvah at Keneseth Israel on the Shabbat morning of May 31. And for her Mitzvah Project, she’s chosen to support the program that’s given her not just pleasure, but purpose.
Dubbed the Find Your Magic Scholarship Fund, Maddie’s initiative will help make it possible for future students to attend CenterStage Academy, which provides “an immersive, enriching theater experience for children of all ages, experiences and backgrounds.”
Participants take classes in movement, voice, character development and similar disciplines, with each session culminating in two musical-theater productions: a 30-minute version performed by students in grades 2-5, and a 60-minute version with students in grades 6-8.
Since treading the Shapira Foundation Auditorium boards in Annie Jr (she played Tessie, the somewhat whiny orphan known for her frequent utterances of “Oh my goodness!”), Maddie has been a stalwart presence in CenterStage Academy productions.
Her credits include Cinderella Jr. (ensemble), Seussical, Jr. (Bird Girl), Little Mermaid Jr. (Mermaid Sister and Carlotta), and most recently, last month’s staging of Disney’s Frozen Jr. (she played the “middle” of three Elsas). She was also an ensemble member in CenterStage’s August 2024 production of The Music Man. Not too shabby a resumé for an actor who hasn’t yet celebrated her 13th birthday.
Given her all-in commitment to CenterStage Academy, it wasn’t a huge stretch for Maddie to make its program the focus of her Bat Mitzvah project.
“I was between two things,” she recalled during a recent Zoom interview, “doing a gluten-free kind of bake sale — because I’m gluten-free and it’s very challenging to find gluten-free baked goods and just food in general — and something to do with theater. So my mom came up with a way to incorporate both.”
Mom (a.k.a. Tammy Behr) had enrolled her daughter in CenterStage Academy, reasoning that a child who’d “stood on our coffee table with a microphone belting out ‘Let it go, let it go’” would be an exemplary fit.
“I just knew she was meant to be on stage,” Tammy Behr says, channeling her inner Mama Rose. “She’s always been very theatrical and dramatic, but she was just a little bit afraid to take the leap of being that vulnerable. So I signed her up and said, ‘Erin (Silliman, the program’s director), she’s scared to death but once you get her on stage, she’s going to shine.’ And boy, did she.”
“She fit right in, made great new friends and grew so much within that first semester, and then she began taking private voice lessons with me,” Silliman recalled. “As a performer she’s always improving, always working hard on her craft. And then as a young woman, growing into herself and finding herself – on stage and off.”
“Because I don’t know what I would do without Academy and I try to help anyone who’s gluten-free, we decided to make a scholarship,” Maddie says. “Miss Erin gets all sorts of emails from parents, asking if there’s a scholarship fund so their child can attend. So I’ll be selling gluten-free food and desserts at the Trager Family JCC to raise money for the scholarship fund.”
Silliman had no advance notice of Maddie’s plans. “I just found out about it a few weeks ago, prior to our Academy show opening,” she says. “It was a wonderful surprise to be told that she’d like to dedicate not only her efforts and her work, but also financial benefits toward Academy. So, although I wasn’t part of the initial planning, in some ways this was even more meaningful — that it was something she came to on her own and wanted to make an important part of her life.”
This isn’t the first time an Academy student has devoted Mitzvah Project energies in similar fashion.
Twelve years ago, “Jake Latts (son of Kate and Allan Latts) chose to do his bar mitzvah project to benefit our education programming,” Silliman says, “specifically with a new program called ‘Louisville’s Got Talent’ that showcased young talent within our community. That program ran right up until Covid. But not since then have we had a young person dedicate their Mitzvah Project toward Academy or our education programming.”
And don’t discount parental dedication, which can make the difference between success and indifference. “Tammy and Mark have gone such a long way in helping Maddie grow as a performer and as a young woman in our classroom, so to speak,” Silliman says.
Indeed, Mark Behr soon found himself beside his wife and daughter, swept along for a ride that shows no sign of slowing down.
“I’ve always been told that if mom is unhappy, nobody’s happy,” says Behr, a Louisville anesthesiologist. “Mama wanted this, so I was right behind her saying, ‘Go, go, go!’”
Still, it didn’t take long before Maddie was driving the stage-besotted bus. “She’s been looking for her niche,” dad says, “and once she did this, she just knew she belonged there.”
Here mom chimed in: “Tell what you call your friends at Academy, why you call them that, and why you think it’s your life’s passion, because your soul has found its home.”
“I call my theater friends ‘my weirdos,’” Maddie says, “because I would call myself a weirdo. I thought I was the odd one out of my group at school, because none of them were really into theater.” Academy, on the other hand, “is theater for weirdos just like me. We all clicked the second we met.”
It all circles back to her scholarship fund’s pivotal word: Magic.
Maddie tasted that magic two years ago when, during her first trip to New York City, she was introduced to the Biggest of Big Time Theater – Broadway, courtesy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child performed in the 1,622-seat Lyric Theatre.
“I walked out of there with a huge smile on my face,” she remembers, “because it was an amazing experience, and I would love to experience that joy again and again.” Or as Madelyn Lee Behr exclaimed:
“Oh my gosh, I want to be on that stage!”
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To contribute to Maddie Behr’s Find Your Magic Scholarship Fund, benefitting the CenterStage Academy program, go online at jewishlouisville.org/tribute-donation and note the tribute is in honor of Maddie Behr. You can also call the Jewish Federation of Louisville at (502) 238-2739.