KIDS + FAMILIES

Seventeen Houston-area children, currently the students of Main Street Theater’s Kids On Stage Rehearsal and Performance By Audition class, explore the fantastical world of E. Nesbit’s The Magic City, adapted by Joe Sutton.

“The scale of this production would challenge any theater group,” says KOS and Magic City director Troy Scheid. “Because it calls for tricky staging—huge puppets, video projection, fast scene changes—we’re working very hard on the details, and the students are providing inventive solutions that are going to make for a great show.”

The play will be performed Friday and Saturday, February 13 and 14, at 7:30pm; and Sunday, February 15 at 3:30pm. Performances are at Main Street Theater – Chelsea Market, located at 4617 Montrose Boulevard. For tickets, call 713-524-6706 or log on to www.mainstreettheater.com. All tickets are $5.00.

About the Play
When Philip and Lucy construct an elaborate model city, their hateful Nurse vows to smash it. Before she can, Phil and Lucy awaken inside the city. Called Precarious, its fate depends on a coming battle between a Deliverer and a Destroyer. At first welcomed as Deliverers, the children are challenged by the power-hungry Pretenderette, who claims she will save Precarious. Dreams and reality intertwine as Pip races to unmask the mysterious Pretenderette and to discover if his true role is to be the city's Deliverer - or its Destroyer.

By the author of Five Children and It and The Phoenix and the Carpet.

About The Production
The cast of is made up of seventeen children from all over Houston and is as follows: Jazmine Blas, Mackenzie Graham, Madeline Graham, Joni Grommesh, Anna Guerrero, Audrey Guerrero, Georgia Hutto-Friman, Marie Israel, Marielle Issa, Caroline Kernell, Cyrus Pacht, Bridget Rasmussen, Meredith Rasmussen, Sutter Sharp, Lilly Sline, Catherine Tharp,  Anastasia Vayner.

Professional artists direct all Kids On Stage R&P productions. Troy Scheid is directing, and Norelia Reed is her assistant director. Art Ornelas designs set and props, and Macy Perrone designs costumes.

About Kids On Stage
Kids On Stage (KOS), now in its 20th season, has been designed to spark a lifelong appreciation of theater by encouraging young people to participate in all aspects of play production, from movement and monologues to stagecraft and theater history. The curriculum teaches essential skills such as creative thinking, teamwork, self-confidence, and communication—skills that enhance the overall learning process. Through year-round classes, outreach programs, and camps both on-site and at satellite locations, students develop their voices, bodies, and imaginations in a challenging and fun curriculum, taught by professional artists and arts educators.

Main Street Theater’s KOS program offers a wide range of classes for students of all skill levels, including individual audition coaching sessions, movement and dance classes, comedy improv classes, high school workshops, and a Summer Performing Arts Camp throughout the summer. The KOS Rehearsal and Performance system includes classes for students at two levels: those who are ready to audition for plays for the public and those who want to hone their skills by producing a play in a “lab” context for family and friends. The current Winter R&P Lab class will perform The Magician’s Nephew, directed in two productions by Liz Cascio and Danielle Matthews. Classes range from $160 - $500; camp ranges from $265 - $580. For more information or to register for classes, please call 713-524-9196 x 104 or log on to www.mainstreettheater.com/kos.

Troy Scheid is Director of Kids On Stage. Portia Gant is Kids On Stage Associate.

Pictured is Bridget Rasmussen as the Lord High Islander in The Magic City.