WYT present: "Annie Jr"

Travel back in time to 1930s New York City when Warragul Youth Theatre (WYT) present "Annie Jr" at Drouin Secondary College next weekend.

"Annie Jr" tells the inspiring story of a spirited young orphan whose optimism shines even in the toughest circumstances. Living at the orphanage run by the cruel Miss Hannigan, Annie dreams of finding the parents who left her on the doorstep years ago.

When Annie is invited to spend Christmas with the wealthy Oliver Warbucks, her life takes an unexpected turn. With the help of Warbucks, his kindhearted secretary Grace Farrell and a lovable stray dog named Sandy, Annie embarks on a journey filled with adventure, friendship, and hope.
Similar WYT's previous productions of "Dare to Dream Jr" and "Aladdin Kids", "Annie Jr" will all come together in one week during the school holidays.
The young cast, all aged between 10 and 17, will begin their intensive rehearsal week next Monday and have until Friday that week to learn their blocking, choreography and songs. The group will then perform a morning and afternoon performance on Saturday July 11 at the Drouin Secondary College auditorium.
Leading the cast is a youth production team made up of senior WYT performers - director Kaelan Lowe, assistant director Aisha Smith, choreographer Paige Fallon, assistant choreographer Chloe Sutton, musical director George Pergl-Tormai and assistant musical director Maya Robinson.
Director Kaelan Lowe said the team selected "Annie Jr" as their next show-in-a-week production because of its status as a well known show.
"A major part in choosing our winter intensive shows is making sure it's a show that a cast already has prior knowledge of," he explained.
"Doing this is a big help throughout the rehearsal week as we can focus more time on refining what the kids already know and getting them on stage. We also selected "Annie Jr" because it's got such a beautiful message of acceptance and love but also plenty of childish sass and energy for the kids to have fun on stage."
Kaelan said "Annie Jr" will be a larger scale production than previous show-in-a-week performances.
"With Annie we are going all out and aiming to produce a show at the same scale as WYT's full shows," he said. "We are having sets, costumes and props, giving the kids a full sample of what the main stage shows are like."
""Annie Jr" is definitely going to be a big step up from intensives that we have done in the past, this show contains so many roles and props and we have some great ideas in store for this show!" assistant director Aisha Smith added.
There are two new faces in the youth production team in Chloe Sutton and Maya Robinson. The pair said they decided to try out something new to expand their skills.
Chloe signed up for the production team after being a cast member in "Dare to Dream Jr".
"I decided to apply to be on the prod team because I saw how much fun they had and wanted to join in!" Chloe said. "I am looking forward to being able to interact with the cast and to be able to be a role model and a mentor for them to perform their best for the shows."
Maya said she was eager to teach the cast and learn new skills herself.
"I have never had the chance to add my creative input to a show," Maya said. "By starting small by doing the show in a week I think it will be an awesome opportunity for me. I'm sure this experience will be an extremely rewarding and I will get so much out of it."
WYT will perform two shows of "Annie Jr" and the Drouin Secondary College auditorium on Saturday July 11. Tickets are available at https://www. trybooking.com/DMVVL