MACON, Ga. — It's Macon Little Theatre's 90th show season. They are bringing new shows that are fun for all audiences.
This week the theatre is ending its run of the Broadway classic Chicago.
But next weekend, the theatre will open the first show from their MLT Family season, which features four age-appropriate shows for everyone to enjoy.
First up is The Addams Family.
"We've had 20 years of our summer kids camp, which is a very successful program for us, and we get a lot of families asking where are the other opportunities for young people to work on stage," artistic director JP Haynie said.
The MLT Family season is four age-appropriate shows for young theatergoers and opportunities for young actors.
For family productions, rehearsal times for young actors are shorter and talented teenage and early 20s actors fill more principal roles.
Plus, these shows also have a more manageable run time for young audiences to watch and enjoy.
The family theatre productions happen one week after a main stage production so many actors are working on two shows at the same time.
One actor, 21-year-old Cassidy Hall, has roles in both The Addams Family and Chicago.
"There are so many talented kids at our theatre," Hall said. "I mean we see them over the summer in the kids camp production but I love that they're getting the opportunity to spend months on a production and really get to do a four-show production."
She says she's happy to share the stage with younger actors.
These shows aren't any less professional just because the actors are young. Haynie says adult audiences may be surprised by these actors' talent.
"We do our best here to present a very high-quality professional experience even though we use amateur actors. And we don't want to lower that bar just because we're using young actors. So, we still hope that these are going to be very successful, powerful productions with talented performers," Haynie said.
Hall says she's so happy with the amount of children who are in their cast for The Addams Family and hopes they come back for more shows.
She feels very lucky the theatre has enough community support to sustain so many performances this season.
"There are theatres that can barely do one musical because they don't have the support from the community so it's really cool that people are coming and supporting the theatre and people are auditioning, that's a huge thing too," she said.
Haynie says the MLT Family season is about maintaining the future of theatre.
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"The future of theatre at all times is getting young people excited about theatre. We have to do our part to guarantee that there is a next generation of theatergoers and I think families that make arts important for young people, those raise adults who find art important," he said.
You have one more weekend to see Chicago at Macon Little Theatre before they prepare to open with The Addams Family next Sunday.