Abigail Sanie said her project will provide educational and entertaining performances for a low cost on March 23, March 24 and March 25.
Cherokee High School junior Abigail Sanie loves theater and she loves being a Girl Scout.
Now Sanie is combining those two passions as she works to direct and produce her own production of “Seussical, Jr.” as her Girl Scout Gold Award Project.
The Gold Award is the highest honor available to Girl Scouts, in which high school-aged Scouts must identify a pressing issue in their community and work toward solving that issue by creating a project involving a minimum of 80 hours of work.
According to Sanie, her project will provide several educational and entertaining theatrical performances in the area for a low cost, with one show also being tailored to those with sensory issues.
To get the theatrical rights to the show, Sanie said she had to create her own theater company, which she called the Marlton Performing Arts Center.
Sanie said the show features about 20 teenagers in the cast from the local area, along with a stage manager, an assistant stage manager, an assistant director and two choreographers.
“I wanted to bring an accessible, definitely less expensive show into the area, and I know that theater has definitely inspired me in a lot of ways. It’s made me a much better person and a much better performer, so bringing this project to my area especially was really important,” Sanie said.
Sanie said she also reached out to those involved with the education department at Walnut Street Theatre for information on how to alter the sensory-friendly performance of her show to provide a more comfortable experience.
“I had not heard of a lot of people in this area offering sensory friendly performances, so I thought that was important to include,” Sanie said.
For the sensory friendly performance, Sanie said the show would minimize the use of lights and sound effects, have less seating to reduce the number of audience members, and the performers will simply wear their cast shirts instead of costumes to help the audience focus on the actors.
In speaking to all performances of the show, Sanie said she choose “Seussical, Jr.” because she had been in a production of the show before and described it as one her favorite shows she had performed.
With a sweet story and colorful characters and costumes, Sanie said she also loves the show’s message of how “a person’s a person, no matter how small.”
“That’s something that you learn growing up in theater, and that’s something that I want to impart on our audiences,” Sanie said.
Sanie’s time in theater reaches back to when she was just 5 years old, and includes work at the Voorhees Theatre Company, Fusion Performing Arts Center, Moorestown Theater Company, the Maple Shade Arts Council and Cherokee High School Theater.
While she was also involved with sports and Scouting growing up, Sanie said she never felt so welcomed by a community as she did by those involved with theater.
“It’s one of the few places no matter who you are, no matter where you come from, no matter your level of talent or skill, there’s going to be someone there who’s willing to work with you and get to know you. It’s a really accepting place to be,” Sanie said.
The Marlton Performing Arts Center’s production of “Seussical, Jr.” debuts March 23 at 7:30 p.m. at Van Zant Elementary School. The show will also run on March 24 at 2 and 7:30 p.m., and again on March 25 at 2 p.m. for the show’s sensory friendly performance.
Tickets cost $10 and are available at the door or online at www.eventbrite.com by searching for events in Marlton.
