THUNDER BAY – Children aged seven to 17 have been in the studio putting in work to put together their last production of the year.
All The DAZE Productions brought Moana Jr. to life, filling up the auditorium on Friday and Saturday.
Marcia Arpin, creative director at All The DAZE Productions, said the cast has been rehearsing the story of Moana each week, starting back in September.
“For our production company, we often use many stages throughout Thunder Bay. This is how we come together at the end of each year.
“This cast is built of brand new, never been on stage children and others that have been on other stages and other productions and those that we consider veterans at this point, even at a very young age.
“Coming together on this stage, they know it's something very special and it's a collaboration of many children, many families and a lot of hard work throughout 2024,” she said.
Arpin said she feel so proud by the idea that she can sit in the audience and is able to watch as the cast carries on the show independently.
“They have each other's back. It's a real exercise of teamwork and trust and resiliency.
“They do the show day after day and time after time with consistency and professionalism way beyond their years,” Arpin said.
Arpin said she has been lucky to have been doing this for 10 years now.
“A lot of the children that are the oldest in our team were the youngest at one time. And (they) certainly remember the experience of having older mentors and now have grown into becoming those mentors.
“It is a real collaboration of their imagination, my imagination and the youngest children's pure imagination and how that all comes together.
“It is lovely to work with such a large age group because you do see those multi layers of mentorship, learning, collaboration and teamwork as well.”
Arpin said every show has its own backstage secrets.
“At the same time, we practice for that. They're able to again be resilient and find their way back again. They really do help and support each other along the way too.
“I'm prouder of those moments where you can see that. Then they get over it and then they just keep on going and of course, the audience knows no different.
Arpin said it has been nothing but standing ovations and a lot of praise for the children.
“Moana was specifically chosen because of its empowerment story, it’s happily ever after.
“The ability for everybody to tell the story on stage. It's certainly not just about Moana. It’s about her friends and it's about the ocean and it's about all these different elements coming together so that they can persevere and see into the future and this little person who can see big things is able to do that.
“It was really the message that allowed for this script to kind of win this opportunity to be on the auditorium stage,” she said.
Arpin said this ends the season for All The DAZE Productions.
“For our Thunder Bay audiences, I'm really excited to say what is next is Mary Poppins, Seussical: The Musical, Frozen and we will be back at the auditorium next year with The SpongeBob Musical.”
All The DAZE Productions will be at Magnus Theatre at the end of January with Between the Lines.
Visit All The DAZE Productions website for more.
