Youth Arts Group Steps Out with 'The Wiz' at Berkmar

It’s fitting that the signature song in the musical debut of a local youth performing arts group is “Ease On Down the Road.”

The group is certainly on the move.

The Melanie Thornton Youth Arts Foundation performance of “The Wiz” Thursday through Saturday at Berkmar High School is the first full musical performance for the Duluth-based organization and its young players. Performers in the cast are between the ages of 3 and 16.

The musical is a milestone point in the life of the eight-year-old group, which until this past January, when it moved into its 4,000-square-foot Creative Arts Center at the intersection of Duluth and Buford highways, did not have a brick-and-mortar home to call its own. And now, there are plans to open another facility, eventually with a 450-seat theater area, in a Lilburn strip mall by this summer.

“It’s the first time we’re putting everything together in a production. It’s very exciting for us,” said Lois Chisolm, founder and president of the non-profit Foundation, which aims to develop youth leadership for at-risk and special-needs youth through arts enrichment programs by offering instruction in dance, drama, art, music and martial arts. The Foundation and its center is named after the late Melanie Thornton, who died in a 2001 plane crash while promoting her first CD.

While most of the previous performances have been for parents and families, and mostly have been dance recitals, talent shows and the like, “The Wiz” is a big move for the kids.

The biggest challenge? “Acting, singing and dancing at the same time. Learning a character, staying in that character and being that character,” Chisolm said.

It’s a fun performance, too. The musical, with lots of singing and dancing, is an adaptation of the “Wizard of Oz,” made popular by a long-running Broadway production and a movie starring Michael Jackson and Diana Ross.

 “I’m so pleased with how well the kids have been doing in getting ready. They’ve been exceptional. … This is the first time they’re going out into the community and saying, ‘Hey, here we are.’”

Around 80 kids from all over metro Atlanta will participate in the production, which will have shows April 21-23 at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday in the Berkmar theater (for ticket info, click here).

Chisolm said her goal is to fill 400 of Berkmar's 450 seats for each performance.