The SAC program paired Youth Arts Ambassadors students as mentors with Penguin Project participants, known as artists. They’ll show off their skills in a production of “Peter Pan Jr.” at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday at the John Legend Theater.
SAC executive director and show director Krissy Brown said the past 16 weeks have been about building the mentor-artist relationship and it hit the ground running.
“It has been great. The artists quickly became a part of our YAA family, which was one of our biggest goals. It’s nice to see them come in and hug and get to rehearsing,” she said.
YAA mentor Avery Boyer has found the experience fun and very rewarding. She’s enjoyed sharing theater skills with the artists.
There is no upstaging, only encouragement and an intent to make the artists look as good as possible. This has led to positive feedback from parents according to Brown.
Kylie Steinnes has enjoyed seeing her daughter, Summer Jackson, grow over the past few months, except for Summer going behind her back but with good reason: she tried out for and won one of the lead roles in the play, Wendy.
After trying softball and soccer, Steinnes was ready for Summer, who is 14, to take on something new and an interest in Disney led to joining The Penguin Project and “Peter Pan Jr.”
Summer already knew some of her colleagues through school or soccer already, which helped and having these skills can help prepare her for starting high school in the fall.
“It made her confident,” Steinnes said. “It was time to take the leap and find out if my child was confident. I’m appreciative they have something like this since she’s made new friends and connections.”
There will be 14 mentors and 14 artists in the show. It will follow the well-known story of Peter Pan and all the characters, scenes and songs that people have known and loved for decades.
Show backstage manager Jeremy Moeller said it was fun watching the cast embracing their characters and hamming it up. Artist Karson Welch recently tried on his Captain Hook costume and it transformed him.
“They are having such a good time and it’s nice how much they care, which is special,” he said. “And they are gaining friends. If you watch this show you’ll just smile and laugh the whole time.”
MORE INFO
Adult tickets cost $19.38 and student and senior tickets cost $13.14. For more information, go to facebook.com/youthartsambassadors.
The new season of The Penguin Project will have an information meeting in the fall, and anyone interested can reach out for more information at the SAC website or social media pages.
About the Author