MARION -- Joey Johnson has been a rather busy man for the past four months.
As director of the Artstarts production of the popular Disney musical Frozen Jr., Johnson has been riding herd over a hundred young actors and dancers from across the region for three nights a week since early August.
While that might prove to be a rather daunting task for some, for Johnson, it's one the talented theater buff seems to relish.
Anyone with doubts about that should just ask Artstarts president Jane Ann Cruse of Marion. She'll happily verify it.
"We have over a hundred youngsters taking part in this production ranging in ages from 5 to18," she said. "They come from all over southern Illinois. That's a lot of people to oversee and Joey does a great job of it."
Cruse said once the casting was finished rehearsals quickly got underway back in the first week of August.
"With rehearsals taking place every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday since early August, you can see that these youngsters are very committed," she said, "especially when you consider they still are busy with school and other things."
Public performances of the hit show will grace the stage at the Marion Cultural and Civic Center beginning tonight at 7 p.m. The show goes up again on Saturday with performances at 2 p.m. at 7 p.m. The show will close after a final matinee performance at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Before the public opening, the cast and crew staged two performances for area students yesterday. Over two thousand youngsters from throughout southern Illinois filled the MCCC for the show.
The Marion-based Artstarts was created in 2005 with the goal of giving young people from the rural area a chance to get involved in the arts at an early age.
Don't bother calling to purchase tickets because all shows have been sold out, assuring a full house for each of the performances.
If you want to see the next Artstarts production, mark you calendar for the end of March 2020 when the company will return to the MCCC stage with a presentation of "The Lion King Jr."
To learn more about Artstarts, visit them online at www.artstarts.biz.
