A Schoolastic Sensation! 40 Students from 20 Schools Present "Annie"

Nov. 16, 2010 - PRLog -- Over 40 students from 20 different local schools will be bringing everyone’s favorite orphan straight from the comic pages, to the J-CAT (The J’s Cultural Arts Theatre) stage with the beloved production of “Annie” December 1-19. Directed by Michael Andron, Musical Direction by Marlena Tuchinsky and choreography by Stephanie St. James, “Annie” will open at the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center/Sanford L. Ziff Campus in the JCC’s J-CAT theatre, 18900 NE 25th Avnenue, North Miami Beach.

This production will incorporate a double cast of students from J-CAT’s community theatre program from schools including Ransom Everglades, Pinecrest Academy, Hillel Community Day School, Sinai Jacobson Academy, Michael C. Krop High School, University School, Highland Oaks Middle and Elementary, and many others. This magnitude of participation from this many students, from this many schools, marks one of the biggest, most diverse casts that J-CAT has had in any production to date.

With a cast of this size and diversity, Director Michael Andron said, “ The challenges of working with kids are balanced by their high level of creative energy. Younger kids and older ones, some with lots of experience and some who’ve never done a show before, all become part of a new ‘Family’, all working together and helping each other make a fantastic production.”

Working with 40 students from 20 different schools is also a new experience Ilana Woldenberg, one of the actors playing the lead role of Annie. “I feel super grateful to be able to make so many new friends who share the same interests as I do. I love meeting other students who come from so many different schools and enjoy doing the thing that we all love.”


Tickets for Opening Night are $36; for all other performances $27-front row seating/ $20-general admission/$12-seniors and students.  All seats are reserved.  Tickets may be purchased on-line at www.jcctheatre.com or by phone at 1-866-811-4111.

The Jewish Cultural Arts Theatre (J-CAT) is the community theatre program of the MAR-JCC’s Rabbi Norman Mussman Cultural Arts Department.  Initially launched two years ago, primarily as an after school theatre program for middle and high school age youth, the J-CAT program has assimilated under its umbrella the MAR-JCC’s adult community theatre company, Actors In The Gym.  This season, J-CAT youth and adult, will present a total of six productions, in addition to providing acting classes and workshops.  

For further information about “Annie” or about J-CAT’s theatre season, call Lillian Andron, J-CAT’s Educational Director, at 305-932-4200, ext. 130

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The Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center/Sanford L. Ziff Campus is dedicated to the enrichment of Jewish life and fosters the spiritual, emotional, and physical development of its individual members through all of life’s stages and circumstances. The MAR-JCC represents a model of acceptance, understanding and diversity. As such, people look at the MAR-JCC as a center of excellence that epitomizes how shared Jewish values support a vibrant and evolving constituency. The MAR-JCC is a beneficiary agency of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation and the United Way of Miami-Dade County, and a member of the Jewish Community Center Association of North America.