Students a Hit at Dorney's Peanuts Showplace

In the new Peanuts Showplace at, local high schoolers are the stars alongside Linus and Lucy.

Singing and dancing with classic Peanuts characters, interacting with young park-goers, is just a day on the job for Parkland High School students Samantha Chubenko and Payton Sherry. 

“I love to perform,” said Chubenko, 16, of Laurys Station. “This [job] fit me great because I always watched the Peanuts characters when I was little, so I thought, why not incorporate it into everyday life?”

“Charlie Brown’s Jungle Journey” and “Charlie Brown’s Hoe Down” take the audience on a 15-minute adventure with the Peanuts gang and a human character named J.T., played by either Chubenko or Sherry.

Chubenko will be a junior at this fall. She has taken theater classes and has been in school shows. She said she enjoys connecting with children at the Peanuts Showplace.

“It’s so much fun to watch because we dance around in the audience,” she said. The young children stop by, wave and pose for pictures with her, she said. 

The shows are the only interactive ones at the park, said Dorney's Entertainment Manager Travis Baker. "Kids can come up on stage and join the characters, give them hugs, and high fives,” he said.

Sherry, 17, of South Whitehall has been performing at Dorney Park since last year. She will be a senior at Parkland High School, where she has been involved in school shows. She also performs in local Community Theater.

“I love that I can share something I love so much with the audience,” Sherry said.

Sherry was nominated for two Freddy awards this past May. These included outstanding performance by a female ensemble member and best small ensemble performance with two fellow actors.

Sherry and Chubenko work about 40 hours a week. Sherry said the commitment is no more than being a part of a show at Parkland High School.

"The toughest part is having to tell all my friends I can’t hang out," she said. "But they’re used to that because it’s either ‘I can’t, I have rehearsal’ or ‘I can’t, I have work.’"

Sherry agrees with Chubenko that parents' and children' reactions to the Charlie Brown shows are some of the best parts of the job.

"It’s a different experience every time,” she said.

You can catch “Charlie Brown’s Jungle Journey” every day on the hour from 11 a.m. through 2 p.m. “Charlie Brown’s Hoe Down” takes over for the rest of the afternoon with shows on the hour from 3 p.m. through 6 p.m.

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