Students in grades 4-6 throughout District 58 participated in the DGN spring theater production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The show ran April 16-18 in the Clarence Johnson Auditorium. The addition of the elementary school kids is a new feature the DGN theater company was excited to show off.
“The musical is written to have a chorus of children,” technical director Ariel Mozes said. “We opted to feature children from the community in addition to the high school students cast in the show. Most other shows don’t call or have a need for younger kids.”
Although this concept is not new to DGN, many surprises came along with the feature. The idea was still relatively foreign.
“What amazed me the most is how much the high school students loved interacting with the younger ones,” Mozes said. “A lot of them enjoyed mentoring them and leading them backstage and during the rehearsal process.”
Adjusting to the new changes was not easy. This was junior Fiona Leion’s first time in the theater department with kids incorporated into the show.
“It was very difficult to work with them,” Leion said. “But they were also so cute and friendly and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Much went into the procedure of having the new performers included into the program. Auditioning and learning choreography for the grade schoolers
“We invited students to come learn a vocal cutting from a song in the show and the corresponding dance to then perform for their parents,” director Kim Maslo said. “We simply wanted them to come and see if they enjoyed learning to sing and dance and felt comfortable performing on stage for their families. It was more like they were auditioning us.”
Having a more than usual amount of individuals in the rehearsal space was difficult to manage. The company was not used to having that big of a crew.
“I think the biggest challenge was having a large group of children combined with our already large high school cast,” choir director Beth O’Riordan said. “It was a lot of people on stage!”
