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Local kids shine at PlayMakers

Posted on July 24, 2008 by Staff

(clockwise from left) Chelsea James, Camille Johnson, Christopher Stephens-Brown and Jabari Foust sit at the front of the stage during a rehearsal of a scene from The Music Man at PlayMaker’s Paul Green Theatre on Tuesday. The American musical is part of the ArtsCenter’s Summer Youth Conservatory program, which gives young actors a chance to work with seasoned professional instructors. Photo by Jordan Timpy.by Catherine Rierson
Staff Writer

Local talent will be on exhibition by a cast of 40 theatrical youngsters for a production of The Music Man, running today (Thursday) through Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2p.m, all at the Paul Green Theatre on Country Club Road in Chapel Hill.

Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man is the tale of the coy Harold Hill, a conman posing as a bandleader and instrument salesman with intentions of exploiting the naiveté of the town — of course, not without the obligatory plot twist.

For the second year, PlayMakers Repertory Company, the in-residence professional theatre company at UNC, joined with The ArtsCenter to conduct the Summer Youth Conservatory. The conservatory included five weeks of comprehensive theatre training and learning through work with professional actors, Playmakers company members, a professional director, choreographer and musical director.

As part of the partnership, Playmakers supplied all lights, sound design, sets and costumes, all culminating in the crafting of giddy musical numbers and a cast comprised mostly of local thespians eager to display freshly honed talents.

Jon Wilner, The ArtsCenter’s executive director, said he was pleased to provide the community’s youth with such a distinctive experience and expects great success and an expanded collaboration between the two organizations in the future.

Tom Quaintance of Los Angeles will direct The Music Man, complementing last summer’s successful conservatory production of Oliver!, also directed by Quaintance. Quaintance also directed PlayMakers’ The Little Prince and has worked on Broadway productions of The Who’s Tommy and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying with Matthew Broderick and other notable actors.

Tickets for The Music Man are $15 for adults and $8 for children under 18 and can be purchased by phone at 962-PLAY, online at www.playmakersrep.org or at the Paul Green Theatre box office, open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and two hours before each performance.

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