Video project chance for young actors to perform in musical theater

Release Date: 6/22/2004. Expired: 7/21/2004

A musical theater production designed for young performers ages 8-12 will be produced for a video project by Overall Kids, Inc. at The Renaissance Center in Dickson July 19-21.

Under the Western Sky will provide young performers an opportunity to work with award-winning producers, conductors and choreographers while learning about America’s western heritage, according to Dr. Randall Bayne, president of Vivici, Inc. of Nashville and producer of the show. The three-day performance adventure promises to fully engage the performers in a musical theater experience culminating in a live performance to be videotaped by The Renaissance Center’s Emmy-winning Multimedia Department.

The participation fee is $135 per performer with family packaging available. Round-trip shuttle service for all three days of the production is available for an additional $20.

A chaperoned charter shuttle service to and from The Renaissance Center will be available from locations in Nashville, Franklin/Cool Springs area, Hendersonville/Gallatin/Goodlettsville area, LaVergne/Smyrna area and Columbia. Shuttles will depart each morning at 8 a.m. and return at 6 p.m.

The production is open to the first 200 performers and the deadline for registration is July 9.

The participation fee includes:

• Book of story line, rehearsal music and rehearsal CD;
• Costuming, which includes a denim shirt with embroidered event logo, a cowboy hat and western bandana;
• Liability insurance coverage and registered nurse on duty;
• Three boxed lunches, one dinner and five nutritious snacks;
• Two tickets to the Wednesday evening performance in addition to an open dress rehearsal for parents and family on Wednesday afternoon, and;
• Tickets to The Renaissance Center’s CyberSphere Digital Theatre and Faraday Science Theatre shows during break and recreation times during the three days.
• Performer must provide dark-colored blue jeans and dark blue socks.

Jim Hendricks, founder of Overall Kids Music Inc., is a professional musician, songwriter and music producer who is the creator of Under the Western Sky. He began his music career in the early 1960s singing in a folk club in Omaha, Neb., where he met and became friends with Cass Elliott.

Hendricks, Elliott and Tim Rose formed a folk music trio called The Big Three and headed east, landing a job at The Bitter End, a well-known club in New York City’s Greenwich Village. As the band’s popularity grew, it added members Denny Doherty and Zol Yanovsky and changed the name to The Mugwumps.

Although The Mugwumps were short-lived, they earned their place in music history as the forerunner to what would become The Mamas and The Papas, consisting of Elliot, Doherty and John and Michelle Phillips. The supergroup of the 1960s paid tribute to The Mugwumps by mentioning them in the lyrics to their hit Creeque Alley.

After The Mugwumps, Hendricks moved to Los Angeles and starting a solo career. He began writing songs and penned his first million seller in 1967, Johnny Rivers’ Summer Rain. He went on to write other hits for Rivers as well as the theme song for the TV series Along Came Bronson.

Hendricks later became interested in recording instrumental mountain/folk and western music for CDs and after a few years of success he began his own music company, Maple Street Music.

Under the Western Sky is produced by Bayne, an award-winning producer, conductor and songwriter, and directed by Pamela Inabinet Bailey, who is the creative force behind the conceptual development of characters and the script. The musical conductor is C. Kraig McBroom, artistic director of High Steppin’ Country in Myrtle Beach and choreographer is G. Wayne Canady, who has worked with regional productions of Godspell, Guys and Dolls, Into the Woods, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and The Secret Garden.

For more information on participating in Under the Western Sky, visit the show’s Web site at www.underthewesternsky.com or call toll-free (800)285-1553.

The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.