Family-focused fun. That’s the goal of Live Oak Theatre. CEO Vince Vanni says, “We want to do family friendly theater where parents and children act alongside each other. The veteran actors mentor the children.” Their upcoming performance of Peter Pan is no exception.
This is an original play written and directed by Randy Olson and the cast is comprised of 58 members of all ages. Randy actually wrote the script and the music herself. She also takes care of costume design as well. Live Oak Theatre has no production crew, it’s all volunteers from cast and crew. As I was conducting interviews, cast members were taking turns rehearsing and building the set. It was a bit chaotic, but everyone looked like they were having fun. Even though this is community theatre, the actors are true professionals- Everyone rehearsing on stage was in character and stayed focused on what they were doing.
Stage Manager Kelli Alexander loves seeing children grow through theatre. She’s a homeschool mom who used to be a youth minister. She says “Even kids who were just in one show, it really makes an impact. We see them later and their parents say that their reading scores, their math scores, their friendships have gone up just because they got the confidence from being on stage and in the group. It’s a lot of work, but a lot of reward as well.”
Live Oak’s Peter Pan is performing 6 shows over 2 weekends. Opening Night is Friday Nov 4th at 7:30 pm. All Performances are held at Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Brooksville. The address is 200 Mt. Fair Avenue, Brooksville, FL 34601. Tickets are $18 for adults $5 children and includes dessert and beverages. Get your tickets ASAP because they are going fast! When I last spoke with Live Oak, they were ¾ sold out already! It’s a performance the whole family will love!