Troupe to bring 'Schoolhouse Rock' to life in Grayslake
Children will be flocking to the College of Lake County to see Schoolhouse Rock come to life.
The Christian Youth Theater of Lake County will perform the pop culture phenomenon in 10 shows from Thursday, Jan. 29 through Sunday, Feb. 1.
Based on the Emmy award-winning 1970s Saturday morning cartoon series, a whole new generation of students aged 8 through 18 will "Unpack Your Adjectives" and "Do the Circulations" dance while Tina, a young schoolteacher nervous about her first day of teaching, tries to relax by watching TV.
Her personality emerges while the characters from the cartoons show her how to impress her students with imagination and music.
"The energy from the students has been fabulous," said Ann Marie Higgins, a parent volunteer for the Christian Youth Theater. "They have worked really hard, despite having the shortest amount of time ever to learn the material."
Emily Heinz of Zion plays the teacher. She is joined at different points on stage by Rachel Gorman, 18, of Lake Villa; Audrey Cashman, 14, of Libertyville; Connor Higgins, 15, from Grayslake; and Jonathan Cramer, 16, from Lake Villa.
The show runs about 2 hours with one intermission.
Higgins said the school has been wanting to produce Schoolhouse Rock Live for awhile and are excited to have it moving forward.
"The reason is it highlights so many kids and it's an incredible way to get so many kids on stage," she said. "Plus, the directors thought it would be real fun to bring this to the stage. We are all very excited about it."
The play will be run on Thursday, Jan. 29, and Friday, Jan. 30, at 9:30 a.m., 11:45 a.m. and 7 p.m. The show will also run on Saturday, Jan. 31, and Sunday, Feb. 1, at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m.
The show will take place at the College of Lake County Performing Arts Center at 19351 W. Washington St. in Grayslake. Parking for the event is free.
Tickets for the shows are available by calling (847) 516-2298 or by visiting the group's Web site at cytchicago.org.
The cost of the event is $8 to $12 for pre-sale, or $10 to $14 at the door. Group, child, senior and school discounts are also available.
The Christian Youth Theater is a nonprofit, educational theater arts program for students 6-18 in the Aurora, Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Rockford Metro areas.
The theater group has about 5,000 students per year and offers camps and classes in dance, voice, drama and specialties.