Young actors from across the Seattle area are currently in rehearsal for Broadway Bound Children’s Theatre’s production of Hairspray, which runs Friday, Jan. 7 – Sunday, Jan. 16 at Broadway Performance Hall. The Tony Award-winning show is known for its incredible music and dance numbers, but also serves as a commentary on the social injustices of the United States in the 1960s.
Among the actors participating are several students from the South Seattle area, including Dejahnaye Austin, Cielle Carlton, Asha Graves-Dixon, Nathan Henrie, Miya Johnson, Ronald McGrew, Mary-lee Mitchell and Dallas Richardson.
For many of the actors in this Broadway Bound production, the social dynamics they create on stage are familiar in an historical sense, but otherwise foreign to them. The show, and its rehearsal process, has served as a great vehicle for inspiring honest conversations between children of diverse economic and cultural backgrounds. Through these conversations, they are learning how to better relate to each other.
“Hairspray has been especially incredible because it’s encouraged the cast members to talk about issues that they don’t discuss anywhere else,” said Broadway Bound founder and executive artistic director Jimmy Nixon. “I think this show and the conversations it has encouraged has given them perspective on their own lives and helped them better relate to their peers from different cultural and economic backgrounds.”
Cast member Georgi Grimm said, “We talked about what the 1960s were like and how race issues made a huge impact on history. We learned about how much things have changed, but racism is still out there and we’re trying to make it better. It was one of the best group discussions I think that I’ve had in a long time.”
Hairspray, directed by Jimmy Nixon and choreographed by Northwest Tap’s Danny Long, is Broadway Bound’s second show for the 2010 season, which began in August, with the world premiere staging of an original musical God Lives In Glass (Rainier Beach High School). The 2010-2011 season will conclude with the Tony-Award-winning musical Big River, for which audition sign-ups are now open at broadwaybound.org.
Tickets to Hairspray are $17.50 and are available at brownpapertickets.com. For more information about Hairspray and Broadway Bound, visit broadwaybound.org.
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This Saturday, more than 28,000 people are expected to run along Lake Washington through the Rainier Valley in the 3rd annual Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon & Half-Marathon. The race starts in Tukwila and ends at Qwest Field and benefits the American Cancer Society.
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