The performance club is gearing up to finish out its first year in existence at Wrightsville Beach School (WBS) on a high note. L.J. Woodard, parent of a first-grader at the school and a professional actor, started the club during the first semester of the 2006-07 school year and catered it to children in first and second grades. However, after performances of Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” for the annual fall festival and a production of Disney’s “High School Musical,” the club grew so popular that Woodard decided to open it up to students in all grades at WBS.
Staff photo by Dana Hawley
The upper-grade kids at Wrightsville Beach School take a silly break from rehearsing for “Finding Nemo” with performance club director L.J. Woodard on Tuesday, May 22. |
“I had all this training, and I never thought I could implement it toward kids, but it’s worked really well,” Woodard said.
Over the past few months, the performance club has been rehearsing several times a week after school for its final performance, scheduled for 6 p.m. next Thursday, May 31.
“To wrap it up, the last two months, we have been preparing ourselves for a play, ‘Finding Nemo,’” Woodard said. “We have to adapt it from the screen to the stage, and also make it kid-friendly, formatting it to fit on the WBS stage, as well. We’ve cut it down to about seven pivotal scenes in the movie.”
Barbara Alyn Woods of “One Tree Hill,” whose daughter is in the play, will be the narrator. WBS students Preston and Patterson Carroll are also in the play, while dad Bernard Carroll will play the dentist and will also play bongo drums for background music. In addition, after Thursday night’s performance, the Carrolls will open their restaurant, the King Neptune, for a cast party to celebrate a job well done.
A total of 58 students are taking part in the play. “Every grade has its moment to shine, really,” Woodard said. “Everyone has an important part.”
The club will also perform “Finding Nemo” as part of the school’s annual Marine Science Festival on Friday, June 1.
It’s the culmination of a year of hard work for the students — and for Woodard. Over the past few months, the kids have developed self-confidence. “I don’t think I have one shy kid in the bunch,” Woodard said. “They’re creative, and they’re having fun, and they’re up in front of a group of their peers, like 25 kids.”
Although the performance club has performed for three PTA meetings, the Calendar Cuties for a Cure pageant to raise money for Relay for Life, and a nursing home, Woodard said that the production of “Finding Nemo” will be the biggest challenge yet. “The play is a big challenge,” she said. “A lot of waiting, a lot of quiet and listening.”
Fellow WBS parent Allison Farmer is Woodard’s “right-hand woman,” helping pump up the kids’ enthusiasm. Guidance counselor and marine science educator Cissie Brooks has also helped, Woodard said, creating the backdrop for “Finding Nemo” and helping with costumes, as well. “[Principal Pansy] Rumley has been amazing,” Woodard added. “She’s been very supportive.” <
