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Local youth to put on The Lion King Jr. in July

Tickets can be bought at the Quesnel Information Centre and the Bo Peep Boutique
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The Quesnel & District Community Arts Council is putting on The Lion King Jr. with local students, aged nine to 17, in July.

The show will run from July 12 to July 15, featuring three evening shows and two matinées at the Chuck Mobley Theatre at Correlieu Secondary School.

Tickets for the show went on sale on Tuesday, June 19 and can be bought at the Quesnel Information Centre and Bo Peep Boutique.

Cathy Heinzelman, a member of the Quesnel & District Community Arts Council, says that many of the youth in the musical have gone to provincials for dancing, singing, musical theatre, and even playing instruments.

“Our cast is incredibly talented,” says Heinzelman. “They’re working hard.”

The children and teens involved in the musical have been practising since Spring Break, when they spent their entire break auditioning, rehearsing and running lines for more than six hours a day. They’ve also had a few pop-up rehearsals since Spring Break.

WATCH: Quesnel youth rehearse for The Lion King Jr.

Heinzelman says the shows will also be recorded, so if the participants ever want to see it or use it as an audition piece for a performing arts school, for example, they’ll have it.

The musical is being directed by Sarona Mynhardt, who came to Quesnel from Gibsons Landing to spend the week with the young actors over Spring Break and who will be returning to run rehearsals with the cast on July 1. Her daughter, Maderi Mynhardt, also from Gibsons Landing, is directing the choreography for the show.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Quesnel and the youth program at the Friendship Centre will receive complimentary tickets to the show.

The play is funded in part by the Youth Engagement Grant given out by the B.C. Touring Council and in part by a fee that the actors pay to take part in the musical. Ticket sales help cover the costs of renting out rehearsal and performing spaces.

Heinzelman says that they still need volunteers to help build sets and act as stagehands for the performances.