Seventeen-year-old Logan Whittier has acted in about 30 plays, mostly at Timpanogos Valley Theatre in Heber City — a small miracle, given how much he hated his first play nine years ago.
“It was this really awful production of ‘The Wizard of Oz’ in North Carolina,” he said. “They took out all the music. They just did it as a straight play. I played one of the flowers. I hated it so much. I was like, ‘Mom, I’m never doing theater again.’”
But as soon as Whittier realized how entrancing a well-made production could be, he was auditioning for any role he could. He had that realization while watching Jeremy Jordan’s performance of lead Jack Kelly in the 2017 Broadway production of “Newsies.”
Whittier will be donning that newsboy’s role in Timpanogos Valley Theatre’s production of “Newsies Jr.” next weekend. The Disney play depicts the 1899 newspaper hawkers’ labor strike in New York City, which occurred after newspaper publishers Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Heart raised distribution prices.
Timpanogos Valley Theatre’s production features about 60 actors aged 12 to 18 who will be performing after a nine-day theater “boot camp.”
The hardest part of wrangling the kids has not been teaching them tap dancing — they picked that up within two days — but having patience with them when they’re goofing off, music and choreography director Will Andrus joked.
But more often, the kids come prepared and eager to learn. All but one of the actors have theater backgrounds, and even that one new actor, 13-year-old Andrew Severson, has a background in choir and dance and no jitters over being onstage.
Unlike Severson, some of the kids in Timpanogos Valley Theatre’s youth boot camps are on the shy side, explained marketing manager Bettina Giese. She teaches fifth grade at Soldier Hollow Charter School and is constantly recommending that parents enlist their children in the theater.
“They’re like, ‘I don’t know that he’ll be brave enough.’ I say, ‘That’s the whole point. They’re shy in school, but when you get a part in a play, they tell you what to say. They tell you where to stand,’” she said.
Whittier added that theater did wonders for his self-confidence and social skills while he was in middle school.
“I would go on stage, and they’re like, ‘Pretend you have so much confidence in what you’re saying.’ So, I just transferred that into my own life. I would be talking to somebody. I’m like, ‘I have no idea what I’m talking about. I have no confidence in myself, but I can pretend I do,’” he said.
Director Roy Buttermore, 20, has been participating in theater since childhood. Literally walking in another person’s shoes as an actor has made him a more empathetic person. He hopes that he can instill that quality in the actors he’s currently mentoring — especially since many of them are the same age as the newsies who went on strike 127 years ago.
“Some of them are just so tiny. I’ll look at them and be like, ‘Gosh, I can’t imagine you having to go through this. But, you know, there was someone who was a lot like you that did, and had the strength and determination to undergo fighting against these people of amazing influence and power,’” Buttermore said.
The director hopes the play inspires its young cast and crew to have the same fervor as the real-life newsies did and to adopt other qualities of their characters in their day-to-day lives.
For example, Leina Magalie, 18, hopes to gain the self-startedness of her character, journalist Katherine Plumber, as she enters the adult world.
Sarah Ray, director of Timpanogos Valley Theatre’s youth programs, said the best part of her job is seeing kids come of age.
“Most of these humans who I love have actually grown up doing shows in the program,” she said, referring to the young adult crew. “It’s fun to watch the kids grow from being tiny little things, basically standing on the stage and waving at their parents, to being able to carry a whole show.”
While the “Newsies Jr.” cast is young, and rehearsals happen in a very short window, Ray assures prospective audience members that the show is well worth the ticket. The kids doing flips and cartwheels during musical numbers will justify the price of admission.
But the biggest reason to see “Newsies Jr.” is to support a program that empowers kids during awkward adolescence.
“It’s such a positive, accepting environment here. We don’t put up with any kind of bullying or cliques or anything,” Ray said. “For kids that have felt like, ‘I don’t really have somewhere to belong,’ this has kind of become their home.”
Timpanogos Valley Theatre’s “Newsies Jr.” runs Friday, July 31 and Saturday, Aug. 1. Learn more and buy tickets at timpvalleytheatre.com.