BUTLER TWP — Whenever Summer Dramatics Project executive producer Tanya Collins runs into a problem, she finds herself asking, “What would Gordon do?”

Collins said that it was the minutiae behind the scenes that longtime director Gordon Cavalero took care of. The small details required the production staff to make the biggest adjustments after Cavalero died last year, about a week before the project opened “Grease.”

“There was no paper, pencil of … exactly step by step what you need to do,” Collins said. “It was just working together to figure out those little pieces that he had done that we needed to step up and now do.”

One year later, the show goes on.

The Summer Dramatics Project’s production of “Shrek the Musical” opened at Butler County Community College’s Succop Theater July 24, welcoming imaginatively dressed characters straight out of a storybook.

But as the curtains rose on show night, Cavalero’s kind demeanor was undoubtedly missed behind the scenes.

Led by new director Larry Stock and the same production team who supported Cavalero, Summer Dramatics continues the mission that Cavalero had maintained since he reimagined the project in the 1990s: bring the joys of theater to Butler’s youth over the summer, no matter their capabilities.

The program continues to welcome new faces. This past year, it had about 90 people audition, many of whom had never participated in the program before.

This production of “Shrek” starred Mia McGrady as Princess Fiona alongside Patryk Lyon as Shrek, Zack Marra as Donkey and Brandon Pierce as Lord Farquaad.

It was Lyon’s first year as part of the program.

When Gordon Cavalero died, it was without warning during tech week, the famously high-stress week of rehearsals before a show where all the final pieces come together.

Cavalero’s death left little time to allow for the show to be pushed back, McGrady recounted.

“I know cast was stressed out,” she said. “I’m sure crew was too.”

Yet, this past year without Cavalero has made way for even more collaboration between the production staff and cast.

“We’re helping out with blocking and doing choreography,” McGrady said. It “has really been a building experience. As sad as it has been, it’s been really, really good for the group.”

The staff, too, tried to make the transition as smooth as possible for the young people involved.

Stock credits his assistant director, Marissa Wagner, a longtime member of the Summer Dramatics Project, with helping him to strike a balance between maintaining the older procedures Cavalero left in place and putting his own spin on the director position.

Cavalero and Stock’s directorial styles diverge, with Cavalero being more relaxed and Stock being more disciplined, executive producer Courtney Baehr said.

“Gordon did a great job. He got the job done,” Stock said of his friend. “I’m trying my best to step in and do that.”

This year is our learning curve, Baehr said.

Wagner suspected that the behind-the-scenes staff took Cavalero’s death harder than the youth in the cast.

Many of the staff members like herself, Collins and Baehr grew up with Summer Dramatics and had known Cavalero for most of their lives, Wagner said.

Baehr found it tough to talk about Cavalero without getting emotional.

“It has been hard,” she said.

She has talked with co-producers Jean Spafford and Kathy Campbell, who have said that, “there’s just times we pick up the phone to call Gordon to ask him a question, and we just can’t, and we had to figure it out on our own.”

As the curtains closed on Summer Dramatic’s production of “Shrek the Musical,” about 70 faces captivated audiences with irreverent ogre humor and family-friendly fun.

McGrady belted out comedic, yet soul-searching songs, and Pierce traipsed the stage on his knees.

Yet, it wouldn’t be summer without Gordon Cavalero. Even as new faces replace old ones, Cavalero’s legacy endures.

In his vision for the program, which started in the 1960s, Cavalero wanted the youth in the community to be involved in theater, to have the chance to be educated about it and to grow in that knowledge, Collins said.

“That was our main focus this year,” she said, “making sure what (Cavalero’s) vision has always been for the program, we were still doing for Summer Dramatics.”

Baehr and Summer Dramatics are working to finalize a scholarship in Cavalero’s honor with BC3.