Two of Medford’s own will be performing at the oldest continuously operating theater in the United States throughout October in front of more than 1,000 people.
Sixteen-year-old Shawnee student Sophia Chryssofos and 15-year-old Shawnee student Emily Dunn will be performing “Shrek The Musical Jr.” at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia every Saturday in October.
This is all a part of the summer camp that Walnut Street for Kids hosts each year.
Directing this group of 13–17 year olds will be Camp Walnut’s Assistant Director of Education Ashley Kerns. Kerns returns to WST for Kids to direct after previously directing “Alice in Wonderland Jr.” and “Seussical Jr.”
She has been assistant director for several Walnut Mainstage productions, including Oscar Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband,” Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap” and “Amadeus.”
Along with Director of Education Thomas Quinn, Kerns has been instrumental in reaching more than 180,000 students in the tri-state area with a variety of programs established to keep arts in education.
However, Kerns is specifically excited about the opportunity to direct this young group of actors and actresses.
“This group is authentically some of the best actors we’ve had on our stage,” Kerns said. “They come very open and ready to work, considering we ask a lot of them.”
The campers do a lot of the little things such as costume changes and behind-the-scenes stuff on their own without any supervision. The group has spent many long hours rehearsing the production over the summer.
The students of the summer camp perform the show five times during the summer in an independent studio with a smaller stage than the one used on Walnut Street. The kids then take August off and come back together in September.
“Most summer camps you leave and don’t get to come back together,” Kerns said. “It creates a really united group of really good friends that all love to do theater. No regular kid wants to spend every weekend in September practicing.”
Dunn, who will be playing the role of a “sassy yet feminine” dragon, as she put it, said she made so many new friends and learned so much from the teachers and directors of the camp.
Chryssofos, who will be playing Princess Teen Fiona and the knight, alluded to how everybody gets so close at the camp during their time spent there.
“How can you not after spending every day with each other for a month?” Chryssofos said.
Some of these kids were a part of last year’s “Alice in Wonderland” performance, so they have some experience with a play of this magnitude.
However, they are still just teenagers.
“Right now, I’m mostly excited to be on real professional stage. I’ve only ever done smaller shows at Shawnee and such, so I’m sure when I get there I’ll get a little nervous,” Chryssofos said.
“I am very excited to showcase the cast’s amazing hard work, energy, talent and the extremely impressive dragon puppet!” Dunn said. “But I’m fairly nervous because I’ve never performed on a stage with an audience so big.”
“Shrek” was chosen, like “Alice in Wonderland” and all of the other themes, because it is a children’s book.
“That’s our first requirement,” Kerns said. “The idea of this is to get parents to read the book to the kids so the kids can get a more full understanding of the play when they come to see it.”
All of the young actors and actresses are very excited to finally showcase what they have been working for all summer.
“We wouldn’t have been able to put together a play like this if it weren’t for this group of kids,” Kerns said.
To see more details on the play or to buy tickets, visit www.walnutstreettheatre.org/season/show/shrek-the-musical-jr.
