More

    Meet Billy Elliot: Lakeville Area Arts Center (MN)

    Lakeville Area Arts Center Interior

    Children’s Castle Theater, in collaboration with Ballet Royale Minnesota, presented Billy Elliot The Musical (BETM) at the Lakeville Area Arts Center from October 14-23, 2016.

    11001806_901687616542921_4247424162532676211_nThe mission of the Lakeville Area Arts Center is to promote cultural enrichment and artistic experiences for the community by providing an environment that fosters creative expression and offers a myriad of artistic and educational opportunities.

    Through creative re-use and renovation, the former All Saints Church was transformed into a state-of-the-art theater and arts facility in 2001, while preserving one of downtown Lakeville’s cherished historic buildings. The theater seats 310 patrons at a performance.

    Since its first play in 1993, education has remained a core value at the heart of the Children’s Castle Theater (CCT) organization. As a CCT cast member, actors are given the opportunity to learn about theater through participating hands-on in a theatrical production. As a community theater, CCT not only provides theater opportunities for kids, but also for high school students and adults in Lakeville and the surrounding communities. 

    BETM was the second of four shows in CCT’s 2016-17 season. Other productions include Chateau Cirque – Magic in the Garden (September, 2016), Disney’s The Little Mermaid (March, 2017) and King Arthur and Princess Arthena (June, 2017).

    In the days prior to the opening of the CCT production, a “Snap Shot” promotional video was produced.  It features members of the cast talking about the show and also contains some great rehearsal footage of the show:

    Credit: Video by Children’s Castle Theater

    For its part, Ballet Royale Minnesota helped prepare the show’s Billy, Gavin Nienaber, who trained for three months with the ballet company. The company also choreographed all of the ballet in the show and will have a professional dancer as part of the production, said CCT Director Kayla Yaeger.

    As noted, Gavin Nienaber led the CCT cast in the role of Billy. To learn more about Gavin, click on the Billy Profiles button (below) to be taken to his detailed profile. 
    billy profiles

    To see a complete listing of the rest of the Children’s Castle Theater cast, just click on the Cast Information button.

    cast info

     

    Mrs. Wilkinson (Meg Krekeler, Mr. Braithwaite (Jakob Gomez) and billy (Gavin Nienaber) Rehearse 'Born to Boogey'
    Mrs. Wilkinson (Meg Krekeler), Mr. Braithwaite (Jakob Gomez) and Billy (Gavin Nienaber) Rehearse ‘Born to Boogie’

    Note: All Rehearsal Photos in this article compliments of Children’s Castle Theater.

    To A List of All Billy Elliot The Musical Articles at theskykid.com

    Back to Billy Elliot Dances Around The World