La Cañada Junior Theater, a children’s theater company operating out of Southern California for 12 years, is bringing “Newsies” to Zionsville.
The co-directors are Speedway resident Rick Barber and Indianapolis resident Chris Barber. They are not related but frequently work together.
The Saturday rehearsals will be from 1 to 3:30 p.m., starting Feb. 27 and will conclude with a performance May 22 at the Boys & Girls Club of Boone County/Zionsville Unit, 1575 Mulberry St. The performance will be live if safe amid the COVID-19 pandemic or streamed or recorded. There will be no rehearsal April 10.
“Chris has a lot of professional dance experience and worked at a lot of studios in Carmel and Indianapolis, teaching professional dance,” Rick said. “My expertise is more in music. I’m a vocal teacher. When we do a lot of shows, he’ll do more choreography and I’ll do more music and staging. We’ve been working together on and off for seven years.”
Chris and Rick assist with the high school musicals at Fishers and Decatur Central and shows at Footlite Musicals.
Rick learned about it when the company placed information about a need on Indy Theater Community’s Facebook page.
“Chris and I will break up the rehearsals into acting, staging, vocal and choreography,” Rick said.
Rick plans to reach out to music directors in the middle schools in the area to get more children involved. Rick said social distancing will be practiced and masks or clear shields will be used.
The students are divided into age groups of 5-8, 9-11 and 12 and older for the rehearsals.
For more on registration, visit LaCanadaJuniorTheater.com.
