NEWS
Connie Company’s Young Thespians Lit up Theatrical Boards with “Frozen Jr”
Leave it to the young actors of Davidson Community Players’ (DCP) Connie Company to inaugurate a new performance stage. A troupe of forty-five youngsters delivered nearly non-stop productions of Disney’s Frozen Jr. to sold-out audiences last weekend with additional daytime shows for groups of area school children at the Cain Center in Cornelius.
Bravo! Adding the Cain Center to Lake Norman’s choice of performance venues offers another dimension to community theatre organizations like DCP to produce musicals, comedies, and dramas of their choice. The Cain Center can seat 385 people in the audience, more than DCPs Armour Street Theatre home and less than the larger Duke Performance Hall at Davidson College. The dimensions of each stage also differ, as well. Frozen Jr. fit the Cain Center stage nicely.
Connie Company’s thespians had a blast! Under the capable direction of Katie Mullis, the youngsters did, indeed, “Let the Sun Shine On” with memorable songs from the popular show. Sterling Masters’ energetic choreography was delightfully magical and costumes by Beth Killion were gorgeous! Instead of the usual static backdrop, colorful images illustrating changes along the storyline were flashed upon back and front walls.
A troupe of nine Snow Chorus ballet dances, led by Trulyn Rhinehardt, who also danced the role of Bulda on her toes, rendered a graceful dimension to the fairy tale of a kingdom trapped in perpetual winter. They included MJ Kain, Norma Parks, Macie Parks, Amelia Rizzardi-Leazer, Mallory Hixon, Caroline Mottesheard, Brooke Mottesheard, and Hadley Lee.
Emerson Bishop performed the role of Anna after Caroline Mottesheard played Young Anna at the opening of the show, followed by Mallory Hixon’s rendition of Middle Anna.
Lacey Caroline played Anna’s sister Elsa after Brooke Mottesheard introduced her as Young Elsa, followed by Hadley Lee’s performance as Middle Elsa.
John Harris played King Agnarr with Amelia Rizzardi-Leazer as Queen Iduna.
Connor Cooper played Pabbie, Taylor Shiley was Kristoff, Luke Tyrell was Sven, and Jordan White played Hans.
Kohen Hamlin performed the role of Weselton, Cole Knight played Olaf, and Whittier Henry was Oaken.
The energetic Ensemble included Bradley English, Nicholas Underwood, Jayden Bell, Dakota Williams, Dakota Kepley, Ava Buesing, Maxwell Rizzardi-Leazer, Lacey Barnes, Sawyer Thomas, Valentina Gallicano, Caleb Urbanek, Brooklyn Reese, Eliza Fitzgerald, Addyson Merz, Hadley Ashcraft, Aiden Honeycutt, Amaya Augustine, Natalie Ring, Kennedy Bishop, and Anascott Bryan.
Connie Company performers will return to the Armour Street Theatre in April to deliver the musical Dragons Love Tacos and another musical in November, Matilda Jr.
All photos by Fenix Fotography
Connie Fisher
Connie Fisher, neé Consuelo Carmona, is a Davidson resident who grew up in Mexico City where she became a journalist and acquired a taste for the theatre. Her preference for work behind the scenes led to an interest in writing reviews—Yale Rep among her favorite troupes. Connie is the author of Doing it the Right Way, the biography of an Italian hatmaker. Her prose appears with 87 other international writers in The Widows’ Handbook. An active, founding member of Lake Norman Writers, Connie just released her latest book, "The Mongrel, Bi-cultural Adventures of a Latina-Scandinavian Youth," a memoir about her years growing up in Mexico.