Young actors shine in the Statesville Theatre’s production of Into the Woods, Jr.

CARISSA MILLER

The Statesville Theater will present the musical Into the Woods, Jr. performances begin Friday at the American Renaissance School’s Black Box Theater.

The performances will run for a month.

“Into the Woods” is a magical story. It’s about all these well-known fairy tales coming together to tell a whole new story centered around the characters of the Baker and his wife,” explained director Chad Schuermeyer.

Favorite fairy tale characters include Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Rapunzel and Jack (from Jack and the Beanstalk), who play their parts by spinning, singing and dancing.

A baker and his wife want to have a child, but they cannot because they were cursed by a witch. The witch agrees to lift the curse if they bring her four items from the forest.

Schuermeyer said one of the interesting aspects of the show is the different types of storytelling used in the musical. For example, one scene uses shadow puppetry to tell Red’s story.

The director is delighted with the cast.

“Everyone in the cast is amazing. They are all so talented and I had to cast as many actors as possible,” he said.

The 30-person cast is made up of students from kindergarten through 12th grade who auditioned in September and held a dress rehearsal Thursday night.

Cast

Scout Stevenson, 11, plays Jack. Viewers will be fascinated by the talent of the young actress and will fall in love with her best friend, the Milky White cow.

“He’s very adventurous and gets mad at his mom because she says, ‘Nobody keeps a cow as a friend.’ This is his only friend,” said Scout.

She appeared in two other plays, including Annie. She loves to sing and dance, but says, “I really enjoy it when I can make people laugh.”

Emmy French, 16, plays Little Red. She brings her character to life with vibrant singing and dancing with the wolf.

“Little Red is a bratty and loud girl, but she will eventually grow up and learn a lot,” Emmy explained.

16-year-old Ali Wooten, who plays Cinderella, wants to attend the Royal Festival. She trades in her threadbare clothes for a sparkly ballgown and slippers. There is a twist in Cinderella’s story and she often meets with the Baker’s wife.

“My favorite scenes are with the baker’s wife, but there are so many great moments. This whole cast is really amazing,” Wooten said.

Dominic Ellis, 17, plays the Baker, and Baker’s wife is played by 15-year-old Amelia Bailey. As their journey unfolds, the couple takes viewers through the ups and downs of their marriage.

Amelia explained that she took inspiration from her mother.

“I’ve always been typical. I played Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast and Will in Oklahoma, where I was always the goofy character who had to be serious in certain scenes,” Dominic said.

Statesville Theater President Katie Gordon said the cast is great and the ARS Black Box Theater makes the show unique. She hopes the community will come see “Into the Woods, Jr.” in this new place.

Producing director Terry Evans explained that the performance space brings the audience closer to the stage, and characters will enter the stage from different sides of the room.

The ARS Black Box Theater is located at 222 E. Broad Street in Statesville. Enter through the lower level.

SHOW TIME
• November 8-9: 7:30 p.m.
• November 10: 2:30 p.m.
• November 15-16: 7:30 p.m.
• November 17: 2:30 p.m.
• November 21, 22, 23: 19:30.

TICKETS
Visit to purchase tickets.

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