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homerhorizon.com life & arts<br />
the homer horizon | June 27, 2019 | 17<br />
‘Frozen Jr.’ an enchanting Lockport-Homer Youth Theater show<br />
Leads happy to<br />
mentor younger<br />
cast members in<br />
large production<br />
Mary Compton<br />
Freelance Reporter<br />
Snow recently glowed<br />
white on the stage of<br />
Lockport Township High<br />
School’s East Campus auditorium.<br />
About 100 actors and<br />
dancers took part in “Frozen<br />
Jr.” put on by Lockport-Homer<br />
Youth Theater.<br />
The show is based<br />
off the hit 2013 animated<br />
film, adapting the land of<br />
Arendelle to the stage with<br />
Elsa, Anna and the rest<br />
of the story’s characters,<br />
which features themes of<br />
love, acceptance and sisterhood.<br />
“I have an incredible<br />
team” said Angela Adolf,<br />
who is executive director<br />
of Lockport-Homer Youth<br />
Theater. “We began seven<br />
years ago in the Downers<br />
Grove Hinsdale area. I live<br />
in Lockport, so five seasons<br />
ago, we tried it in Lockport<br />
with ‘Seussical,’ and here<br />
we are today. We do two to<br />
four shows a year.”<br />
“Frozen Jr.” opened on<br />
Thursday, June 20, and ran<br />
through Saturday, June 22.<br />
As a fifth-grade teacher<br />
at Hadley Middle School<br />
in Homer Glen, Adolf<br />
brought a team together<br />
that works with children in<br />
everyday life.<br />
“We are one of the first<br />
theater companies in Illinois<br />
to put on ‘Frozen Jr.’”<br />
Adolf said.<br />
The show included professional<br />
backdrops and<br />
sets, along with special<br />
effects with snow, beautiful<br />
dances, which included<br />
dancers from Wings Dance<br />
Part of the cast from the Lockport-Homer Youth<br />
Theater dances a number as they sing “Hygge” during<br />
“Frozen Jr.”<br />
Studio from Lockport, and<br />
a talented cast that brought<br />
the audience to a land of<br />
make believe.<br />
Nathan Pugh was honored<br />
to play the role of<br />
Hans.<br />
”I’m going to remember<br />
this forever,” Pugh said.<br />
“The cast is so talented.”<br />
Next year, Pugh will age<br />
out of Lockport-Homer<br />
Youth Theater.<br />
“That will be bittersweet<br />
because I grew up in this<br />
company,” he said. “This<br />
is where my love of theatre<br />
began.”<br />
Pugh is involved with<br />
Providence Catholic High<br />
School productions, as<br />
well.<br />
For the actresses who<br />
played Anna and Elsa, audience<br />
members remarked<br />
on the talent and voices for<br />
each.<br />
Jersie Joniak, of Homer<br />
Glen has performed professionally<br />
in commercials<br />
for Build-A-Bear, Speedway<br />
and Rolaids. She was<br />
also onstage at the Marriott<br />
Theatre performing in<br />
“Shrek” and “Suessical.”<br />
Her role as Anna in this<br />
production did not disappoint.<br />
“This has been so much<br />
fun” Joniak said. “It’s the<br />
biggest role I’ve had in<br />
this company.”<br />
Joniak’s first show,<br />
“Schoolhouse Rock” was<br />
staged when she was 8.<br />
“I remember when I was<br />
so young and looking up to<br />
the leads and being intimidated<br />
by them,” she shared.<br />
“Now that I’m a lead, I’ve<br />
made friends with the little<br />
kids and have tried to be<br />
an example for them. Every<br />
time I go onstage, it’s<br />
breathtaking.”<br />
Joniak will begin her high<br />
school life at LTHS. She<br />
explained how shy she was<br />
when she began theatre.<br />
“Acting broke me out of<br />
my shell, and I’ve become<br />
a new person,” Joniak<br />
said. “In the sing along for<br />
this show, popping out and<br />
saying my first line was<br />
incredible. Being Anna,<br />
no matter what, is a dream<br />
come true.”<br />
Abigail Sanford played<br />
the role of Elsa and commanded<br />
the stage throughout<br />
the production of “Frozen<br />
Jr.”<br />
“The fact that I get to<br />
sing ‘Let It Go’ is an honor,”<br />
she said. “It’s such a<br />
difficult song, and not very<br />
many people can sing it. I<br />
still struggled with it, so I<br />
just persevered and think<br />
Jersie Joniak, of Homer Glen, performs a scene as Anna during “Frozen Jr.” with<br />
Nathan Pugh, of Lockport, who played Hans, during the Lockport-Homer Youth<br />
Theater production on Saturday, June 22, at LTHS’s East Campus. Photos by Mary<br />
Compton/22nd Century Media<br />
Graham Carlson played the snowman Olaf in the “Frozen Jr.” production.<br />
today it went really well.<br />
I’ve always been singing<br />
my entire life. I started lessons<br />
when I was 7.”<br />
Sanford began her theatre<br />
experience with Lockport-Homer<br />
Youth Theater<br />
in third grade, and she<br />
is now going into eighth<br />
grade at Homer Jr. High.<br />
“I began in ‘Seussical,’<br />
where my role was a little<br />
Who,” Sanford said. “I remember<br />
looking up to the<br />
leads, as well; they were<br />
absolutely amazing.<br />
“I would wish that I<br />
could be just like them. Today,<br />
I’m so happy that I can<br />
be. I became friends with<br />
the little actors because I<br />
knew what it was like when<br />
I was younger, so I always<br />
want to encourage them.<br />
Some of these little kids<br />
will be us someday.”<br />
Both Sanford and Joniak<br />
want to go on and study<br />
theatre in college. The<br />
girls also dream of being<br />
on Broadway one day.<br />
“The singing, dancing<br />
and acting is what I live<br />
for,” Sanford said. “I want<br />
to go to a college and major<br />
in theatre, which is my<br />
dream. I have been dreaming<br />
of Broadway ever since<br />
I did my first musical. This<br />
experience as Elsa brings<br />
me that much closer.”<br />
For information about<br />
Lockport-Homer Youth<br />
Theater, visit homeryouth<br />
theater.com.