PYTCo Youth… ALL THINKERS OF STRANGE AND WONDERFUL THINKS TO BRING DR. SEUSS’ CAT IN THE HAT AND OTH
PENN YAN, NY AND FROM THE JUNGLE OF NOOL TO KALAMAZOO - The Penn Yan Theatre Company’s Youth Theatre Summer Program will unlock the imaginations of Yates County citizens when they bring the Cat in the Hat, Horton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz, Mayzie La Bird, the Whos in Whoville and other Seuss favorites to life with their production of Seussical JR. The story combines Dr. Seuss tales (…and tails!) using the plinker-plunker of many musical styles – ranging from Latin to pop, swing to gospel, and R&B to funk – as colorful as the classic books.
Horton will hear a Who and cheerful chaos will ensue when PYTCo Youth presents Seussical Jr. on July 24 & 25 at 7:00 and July 26 at 2:00 at Penn Yan Middle School, 515 Liberty Street, Penn Yan. Adult tickets are $10 and student and seniors are $8 and are available at the door or PYTCo.org/shows. The production is partially funded by Rochester Community Foundation’s Arts in Education and the James P. Gordon Trust Fund.
“Each year I’m truly amazed by what we accomplish with our program, now in its 21st year,” says program director Dusty Baker. “I began as a camper and now proudly direct and produce our summer program with the invaluable help of a great production team, including our high school and college students as counselors. Our program wouldn’t be possible without their assistance over our three weeks together.”
Seussical JR. begins with a young boy named JoJo who conjures up the Cat in the Hat with his powerful imagination and is whisked to the Jungle of Nool for a fantastical adventure. There JoJo learns of the plight of the tiny citizens of Whoville, who live on a planet the size of a speck of dust. Their sole protector is Horton the Elephant, who is the only one with large and sensitive enough ears to hear them bipping and beeping and playing their oompahs. The small world is threatened by Sour Kangaroo and the Wickersham Brothers, who in disbelief that a world could be so small, try to steal the dust-speck so they can cast it into a vat of Beezle-Nut oil. During all of this drama, Horton has not noticed that he has an admirer, Gertrude McFuzz. She blames his indifference on her one-feather short tail and endeavors to find a way to change her looks. Meanwhile, Horton’s friend, Mayzie La Bird, is bored of perching on her nest, and convinces the watchful elephant to sit on her egg so she can take a vacation. The Cat follows all of these storylines and finally casts the boy into his own as the irresponsible son of Mr. and Mrs Mayor of Whoville, JoJo, who ultimately saves his whole tiny world with one big, imaginative “think.”
The Penn Yan Theatre Company, founded in 1978, celebrates over 20 years of
youth theatre. Over the past two decades, the program has evolved and grown, now including nearly 80 hours of theatre education and training over the course of 2.5 weeks each July. Participants experience the audition and rehearsal process as well as workshops hosted by professionals and experts in hair/make-up design, set design, improv acting and more. Through the generous support of granting organizations and local businesses, the program has no registration fee for its participants.
Music Theatre International (MTI) is one of the world’s leading theatrical licensing agencies, granting theatres from around the world the rights to perform the greatest selection of musicals from Broadway and beyond. Founded in 1952 by composer Frank Loesser and orchestrator Don Walker, MTI is a driving force in advancing musical theatre as a vibrant and engaging art form.
MTI is particularly dedicated to educational theatre and has created special collections to meet the needs of various types of performers and audiences. MTI’s Broadway Junior® shows are 30- and 60-minute musicals for performance by elementary and middle school-aged performers, while MTI’s School Editions are musicals annotated for performance by high school students.
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Contact: Dusty Baker, 315-992-8509, contact@pytco.org
