Moorestown Theater Company Delivers Message Of Inclusion With Next 3 Shows

MOORESTOWN, NJ — Moorestown Theater Company Artistic Director Mark Morgan had next weekend in mind to run the company’s production of “Hairspray Jr.” for about three years.

The record-setting cast of 100 actors for the upcoming production includes 18 African American children, ages 14-15. He wanted to make sure they had the maturity and the experience needed before he attempted to tackle a serious production about inclusion and acceptance.

The diverse cast also includes six actors who have either Hispanic or Indian backgrounds.

Morgan didn’t have the foresight to know what the state of the world would be in 2017, and how important delivering that message of inclusion would be.

“I had not even thought about it until the KKK flyers were found in town,” Morgan said. “I was appalled, but that’s our climate.”

The KKK flyers weren’t limited to Moorestown. Around the same time they were discovered in Moorestown last month, similar literature was discovered in neighboring Cinnaminson.

And then last week, the Betty and Milton Katz Jewish Community Center (Katz JCC) in Cherry Hill was evacuated due to a bomb threat that turned out to be unfounded.

The bomb threat at Katz JCC hit close to home for the theater company because some cast members go to JCC and participate in the center’s summer programs.

“What is wrong with people that they think this is OK?” Morgan wondered aloud during an interview Wednesday morning.

The environment is new for many of the actors, and Morgan is glad that shows such as “Hairspray Jr.,” as well as “Shrek Jr.” and “13,” the company’s next two productions, can educate students who weren’t alive when segregation was a part of everyday life.

“Negro Day was a real thing and that was not during the Civil War. This was 1962, so it was in my lifetime,” Morgan said. “Kids don’t see this stuff as much, but they tell me there are still bad things they have to put up with. It still goes on.”

“Hairspray Jr.,” tells the story of one girl’s dream to dance and change the world, that until she gets involved, actually has a “Negro Day" on the local televised dance show. Many of the children performing the show were surprised to learn that “Negro Day” was a real thing.

“They had their eyes opened a little bit,” Morgan said. “That’s the power of musical theater.”

The total cast includes 99 children from 40 different schools and 6 ABC News Anchor Rick Williams, a Moorestown Theater Company mainstay, who provides a voice over.

The show is double cast, and was expanded from four scheduled performances to six to allow the entire cast to perform. The show drew more interest than usual, in part because of NBC’s live performance of “Hairspray” that aired on national TV in December. As a result, it’s not just a large cast, but Morgan said it’s a strong cast.

The show won eight Tony Awards, and was nominated for a total of 13. It includes such memorable characters as “Tracy Turnblad", “Link Larkin", “Edna Turnblad", “Amber Von Tussle", “Velma Von Tussle", “Penny Pingleton", “Seaweed", “Little Inez", “Motormouth Maybelle", and “Corny Collins.”

It includes such great songs as “Good Morning Baltimore”, “The Nicest Kids In Town”, “Mama, I’m A Big Girl Now”, “Welcome To The Sixties”, “Run And Tell That”, “I Know Where I’ve Been”, and “You Can’t Stop The Beat.”

• Thursday, March 16, 7 p.m.;
• Friday, March 17, 7 p.m.;
• Saturday, March 18, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; and
• Sunday, March 19, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The theme of inclusion continues with the theater company’s performances of “Shrek Jr.” and “13.”

In “Shrek Jr.,” everyone’s favorite ogre and his fairy-tale friends are all evicted from their homeland. It is the annual spring production of the Our Lady Of Good Counsel School Drama Club, which the theater company has run for the past 14 years.

A 45-member middle school cast will perform this musical which, besides the title character, has such great characters as “Princess Fiona”, “Donkey”, “Lord Farquaad”, “Gingy” and “Pinocchio”, and such great songs as “Story Of My Life”, “Freak Flag”, and “I’m A Believer.”

• Thursday, March 30, 7 p.m.;
• Friday, March 31, 7 p.m.; and
• Saturday, April 1, 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.

“13” is a hilarious, coming-of-age musical about discovering that „cool‟ may be where we least expect it. It is the theater company’s annual spring play.

The 12– to 16-year-old cast will perform this musical which features such typical teenage characters as Geeks, Posers, Cheerleaders, Jocks, Wannabes, etc.

With a score from Tony Award-winner Jason Robert Brown, “13” is about soon-to-be 13-year-old “Evan Goldman,” a Jewish boy who is plucked from his fast-paced New York City life and plopped into sleepy Indiana after his parents‟ divorce.

• Thursday, May 11, 7 p.m.;
• Friday, May 12, 7 p.m.; and
• Saturday, May 13, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Tickets for all three musicals are reserved, and can be purchased at www.MoorestownTheaterCompany.org, or at the door in the lobby 60 minutes before curtain time. The theater will open 30 minutes before each curtain time.

Call the Moorestown Theater Company at 856-778-8357 with any questions or to get group rate information.

The attached image depicting 87 of the 100 cast members in the theater company’s production of “Hairspray Jr.” was provided by the Moorestown Theater Company.