Village Youth Theatre Presents 'The Jungle Book'

After learning a variety of acting techniques and stage design strategies, the 41 campers from the Village Youth Theatre Summer Theatre Arts Camp are ready to put on a rousing rendition of Disney’s .

John Rutherford, the production's director, said children grades 3-9 participate in the camp and they do not try out for specific parts. Instead, the camp staff observes the children the first week and distributes roles accordingly. Age, he said, does not factor into the decision. In fact, the leading role of Mowgli is played by a 10-year-old, he said, while Bagheera is played by a 14-year-old.

“We don’t differentiate by age, it ends up being whoever is best suited the part,” Rutherford said. “We assess them all week.”

The decision to perform The Jungle Book was made, Rutherford said, because it is a well-known, well-liked Disney production, which allowed for as many parts as they had to hand out. Rutherford created more parts for elephants, vultures, monkeys, and snakes as needed. 

“The kids are really excited," he said. "It’s just one of those shows where they get to have fun makeup, crazy hair and get to act like animals — very fun."

Within the one-hour, 20-minute performance, Rutherford said one of the best scenes is during the song “I Wanna Be Like You," noting the monkeys have lots of tricks, including flips and cartwheels.

“It’s pretty advanced choreography for their age,” he said. “Everyone is pretty excited for that number.”

The goal of the summer camp is to get students comfortable with every aspect of theater. Rutherford said children learn how to do it all at the camp, including makeup, designing and building sets, making props and making the costumes. The kids learn the various trades along with styles of acting, dancing, singing and more throughout the morning, and then are able to apply them in the afternoon while practicing for The Jungle Book.

“It’s a quick process, we don’t have a lot of time to put the show together,” Rutherford said.

Tickets to the shows are available for $5 per ticket. Show times are 7 tonight and at 12 noon and 7 p.m. Thursday.

Rutherford advised in favor of buying tickets in advance at the theater, located at 34660 Woodward Ave., for the evening performances because they are close to being sold out. The theater box office is open from 9 a.m.-3 p.m.