{"id":223523,"date":"2016-02-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-26T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/the-sun-comes-out-this-month-for-annie\/"},"modified":"2016-02-26T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-26T08:00:00","slug":"the-sun-comes-out-this-month-for-annie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/the-sun-comes-out-this-month-for-annie\/","title":{"rendered":"Sale el sol este mes para 'Annie'"},"content":{"rendered":"

por Alex Owens<\/p>\n

Yes, the sun is going to come out tomorrow, but you can bet your bottom dollar it will really shine in La Mesa March 16-19.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Peter Pan Junior Theatre will be presenting a production of the hit Broadway musical \u201cAnnie\u201d at the Joan B. Kroc Theatre at The Salvation Army Kroc Center.<\/p>\n

This marks the third time the company has presented \u201cAnnie,\u201d according to the show\u2019s director, Dr. Mark Arapostathis, a teacher at La Mesa Arts Academy (LMAAC) and the Mayor of La Mesa.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/a>
Dr. Mark Arapostathis gives direction to Eleni Arapostathis as cast members look on. (Photo by Alex Owens)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ninety students have been rehearsing songs and choreography since November, but the show isn\u2019t just about singing and dancing, Arapostathis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not working just on the production, but we\u2019re striving for cultural literacy,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re teaching the students about the Great Depression. We explain that there was no Annie or Daddy Warbucks, but we explain about the New Deal and FDR.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long before Arapostathis became the PPJT director, he was one of many performers in the show. He said the cultural literacy is something new and adds to the show\u2019s value.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was growing up, we didn\u2019t do that as much,\u201d he said. \u201cBut kids have greater access to finding out information about that era than we did.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show features a few cast members as Rockettes, and a couple of them got a little bit of extra help when they went on a class trip to New York in October and met one of the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall.<\/p>\n

Alexandra Moye, a seventh grader at LMAAC, said the Rockette gave her some useful performance advice.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said, \u2018Practice! Practice! Practice!\u2019\u201d Moye said.<\/p>\n

Attendees will see a slightly different show than the production on Broadway or the one that toured through San Diego a few months back.<\/p>\n

\"Orphans<\/a>
Orphans in “Annie” rehearse “Hard Knock Life.” (Photo by Alex Owens)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cNormally, \u2018Annie\u2019 has a cast of 22, but we have 90 performers \u2013 we\u2019ve expanded the cast times four,\u201d Arapostathis said. \u201cEvery child has a role and a name. They\u2019re not just the chorus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although many students have gone on to other productions after being aged out of the PPJT program, Arapostathis emphasizes the program\u2019s goal is to build character, not stars.<\/p>\n

\u201cTalent is relative,\u201d he said. \u201cI want kids with good attitudes who want to work. I consider it a big compliment when people say, \u2018Oh, you found such talented kids.\u2019 In truth, the rehearsals can look like claymation \u2013 I have to go line by line to help them make the stage moves look natural.\u201d<\/p>\n

This marks the 23rd production that Arapostathis has directed and he has changed his approach in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cLots of children are involved in sports and other things so we\u2019re trying to tailor the program to that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve reduced rehearsals from six days to four. It\u2019s forced greater clarity in my thinking because there isn\u2019t as much time.\u201d<\/p>\n

There will be five shows \u2013 four evening productions and a Saturday matinee \u2013 but the students will also perform free shows for students in the La Mesa-Spring Valley School District as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cPPJT is not subsidized by the district,\u201d he said. \u201cWe pay to rent the theater, we pay the musicians and pay for the school buses so that 2,000 students can see the play for free during the week of the show. We also pay for a substitute teacher at LMAAC for me the week of the show.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the students will be as prepared as much as possible, Arapostathis said sometimes they learn to adapt to the unexpected.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast season, when we did \u2018Once Upon A Mattress,\u2019 a child couldn\u2019t make it so I put on a crown and read her lines,\u2019\u201d Arapostathis said.<\/p>\n

Peter Pan Junior Theatre\u2019s production of \u201cAnnie\u201d will be presented March 16-19 at the Joan B. Kroc Theatre at The Salvation Army Kroc Center, 6845 University Ave., San Diego, CA 92115. Tickets are $15. Performances begin at 7 p.m. for evening shows, 1 p.m. for the Saturday matinee.<\/p>\n

For information, check out ppjt.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2013\u2013Alex Owens is a freelance writer from La Mesa. Reach him at alexowenssd@gmail.com.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

por Alex Owens<\/p>","protected":false},"author":764,"featured_media":222602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11548","_seopress_titles_title":"The sun comes out this month for \u2018Annie\u2019","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11548,11551,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-223523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-la-mesa-courier","category-news","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/764"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}