New theatre group about to make debut

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This article was published 08/01/2024 (723 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new theatre group in town is making musical theatre accessible for all children and will put on its first kids musical – Finding Nemo — this month.

The show will take place Jan. 19 and 20 at McDiarmid Drive Alliance Church. Produced, directed and more by Kailyn Loewen, who began the new theatre group, Westman Drama Ministries, to give all youth a chance to take part in shows without participation fees.

“We are a Christian community drama ministry focused on making drama accessible to all kids in the community. And so, it’s really about creating a place where young people can be creative and build friendships with one another. So, we don’t charge kids to be a part of our program at all,” said Loewen. “But the shows are expensive to put on. We need the community to come see our shows to support us.”

The group and show were Loewen’s idea and she gradually recruited enough friends to help with the first production. She said everyone is quite young, but it’s been a great learning experience.

“Our production team is either in high school or college. We’re all pretty young and new at this. But we had a vision for creating this show. So, we just kind of went for it. And it’s been really cool to see how the community has been very supportive about letting us kind of create this,” Loewen said, adding she started the show and Westman Drama Ministries this past October. “I have a lot of friends who are into music, drama and theatre. So, it was pretty easy to find a collection of us who wanted to try and create our own show.”

Finding Nemo Jr., is based on the 2003 Disney film of the same name, features 26 children from all over Westman between the ages of 8 and 18 years, and another 12 production assistants also under the age of 18. Loewen said she and her production team have also been busy building sets, painting and sewing costumes. She said when she was younger she participated in theatre and that was her inspiration for starting Westman Drama Ministries.

“I have always been into drama and creating theatre. I love the community that theatre creates within the show itself, within the performers, being able to all bond with each other. And so, I wanted to create a place for that for kids in a Christian setting, in a place that we can create and just a safe place for kids to be creative and allow them to create their own show,” Loewen said, adding she has given a lot of creative freedom to the children participating. “We let them put (their ideas) in the show. They’re really a part of creating the whole show.”

She said she thinks families will have a great time at the show. Nemo is played by Joelle Reimer and her older sister plays Dory. Marlin is played by Jenaya Thiessen, who is also the assistant director, and JJ Thiessen plays both sharks, Crush and Bruce. The dance numbers were all planned and directed by choreographers Grace Neufeld, Elizabeth Cox and JB Bjornsson.

“Finding Nemo Jr. — it’s a fun family musical. It takes the story that everyone already knows from the movie, Finding Nemo, and then incorporates a bunch of fun catchy songs,” Loewen said. “I have loved (the process). This has been my dream to create something like this and to be a part of it, and to be creative myself is really cool. And just to see how everyone came together and it’s all working out is pretty cool. I’m really excited about our tech stuff, because we have the church helping us with projections all over the ceiling and the walls. “It’s really going to blow people away and transport them into the story. It’s going to be really cool.”

Tickets are $22 each and available online at Finding-Nemo-Jr-Westman.eventbrite.com.

» khenderson@brandonsun.com