LODI, N.J. (PIX11) -- What does getting up on stage and singing a song with a cast of your peers give to young boys and girls?
According to two-time Tony nominee Willie Wilson, who runs a children’s theatre program in New Jersey, it gives them confidence to tackle anything they want to do later in life.
Lead with love and kindness. That’s the motto of the Theater Arts Group, Willie Wilson’s Theatre Arts Group, and you feel it when you look at these young performers on stage.
More than 30 performers are up on the Felician theater stage in Finding Nemo. They are ages 7 to 15. They are also finding their voice and self-confidence.
“The shyest kid comes in and wants to be in the ensemble and one year later may be the star,” Wilson, the founder, owner, and producer of TAG, told PIX11 News. “It’s really about confidence, and it’s wonderful,” he added.
Willie Wilson founded his children’s musical theatre program, Theatre Arts Group, affectionately called TAG, 26 years ago. He was just nominated for his second TONY, an honorable mention for excellence in theatre education.
Wilson himself says theater saved his life and gave him purpose after a difficult childhood. “The teachers had me over for dinner. I was orphaned very young. They gave me a home, so I’m trying to make this a home for everybody else,” Wilson told PIX11 News.
One parent, Brigid Scire, has seen her daughter, Sasha, grow in confidence to play one of the leads despite her anxiety. “It gives her the safe, wonderful, wonderful space with love and kindness. This was her first lead role,” Scire told PIX11 News.
Other performers are blossoming as well. "I thought I wasn’t going to like this. I thought it was gonna be so boring,” Peyton Alia, 10 years old, told PIX11 News. “But I absolutely loved it. It flipped my world upside down,” she added.
More than 3000 children have gone through this Theatre Arts Group program.
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