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Aaron Family Jewish Community Center of Dallas - The Dallas JCC empowers people to pursue wellness of mind, body and spirit with rich programming, fitness facilities and an accredited preschool.

The Lion King – Week 1

a note from alise

Dear Parents,

It was great seeing everyone on Sunday. Thank you to everyone who attended the parent meeting. Your positive energy was received and greatly appreciated. This year we definitely have a group of rockstar, get-it-done parents out there. Everyone who sent in their bio by EOD on Tuesday, January 30 will receive a complimentary ticket! It will be waiting for you at Will Call on the day of the performance. Your effort is noted and greatly appreciated. And, yes, unfortunately the bio google form will not allow you to italicize.  We will take care of it on our end.

First Rehearsal

The energy was high and the excitement in the air from our actors was fantastic. The first rehearsal is always centered around “breaking the ice” with our fellow actors and staff members and diving into our theater process.

We started off the day with a meditation centering around one of our Lion King quotes from Mufasa, “Believe in yourself and one day others will have no choice but to believe in you”. There is an underlying theme in that statement – confidence. We discussed how confidence is a learned skill.  Confidence is the willingness to try and take action.  And, with each new thing you try, with each attempt, you gain more competence in yourself, leading to confidence.  So, we encouraged our actors to try three new things this week!

We then watched a SURPRISE, amazing video, tailor-made just for our JPAS actors from Syndee Winters! Syndee played Nala on Broadway!  She shared her excitement, tips, and words of wisdom for our actors. She even sang! We sang along too!  Wow, our actors and staff were exhilarated and engaged. Check out these videos!

We then played a super fun theater bingo game that got everyone out of their seats, making friends, asking questions, and doing all sorts of fun improv. We then spent time cultivating the culture and environment in which our creative journey will flourish. This included the vision for the show, program, and expectations such as:

  • Always be kind to yourself and to one another.
  • To have fun and create a safe space for everyone.
  • Never be afraid to ask for help.
  • Practice your lines, music, blocking, and choreography at home.
  • Bring your script, a pencil, and a highlighter to every rehearsal.
  • Come to rehearsal prepared, alert, curious, and ready to work.
  • When we know better, we do better: Transition time = quiet time.

We then broke out into our two casts, Pride Rock and Hakua Matata. Finding out your role in a show is always full of emotions. Today, the actors were encouraged to understand that the production team hand-picked each actor to be a special puzzle piece in this production. An actor’s quantity of lines does not equal stage time, and it certainly does not equal the level of importance. Don’t count your lines, make your lines count!  Then we did a full read-through of our script. A read-through is when every member of a cast gets together and reads through the entire script from start to finish. This allows us to see the big picture and to hear each different voice bring each different character to life. It also allows us to recognize where in the story each song lives, and there are lots of them!  We ended with our appreciation circle. Oh, what a busy, fun, and exciting day we had!

Electronic Resource Library

Practice at home and use our ERL (Electronic Resource Library) with music and choreography that we will learn each week. The ERL link has all the sing-a-long and performance tracks as well. Please encourage your actors to listen to the music and read through their scripts. The more they absorb at home, the more productive our rehearsals can be.

Rehearsal – Sunday, February 4th

  • Everyone should arrive promptly for drop off at 1:30 pm
  • When I Grow Up Cast will meet in the Zale
  • Pride Rock Cast will meet in the Zale.
  • Hakuna Matata Cast will meet upstairs in the Mankoff room.
  • Pick-up will be at 5:30 pm in the lobby.
  • Please remind our performers to bring their scripts, rehearsal folder, pencil, and a highlighter to every rehearsal.
  • Please pack a healthy snack and a water bottle.
  • Wear clothes you can easily move in with sneakers or bring your jazz/dance shoes.

Important Dates & Reminders

  • JPAS Social Crew:  A time for our actors to bond with fun activities! February 8 and March 14 – Sign-up today
  • Sunday, February 11 is when we will be taking headshots for both casts. Please make sure your actor is camera-ready!
  • Wednesday, February 14 – actor bios are due. I will send reminders, but at the end-of-day February 14, if we have not received your actor’s bio, they will not be included in the playbill. Note:  the google form will not allow you to italicize, unfortunately, so we will take care of that on our end.  Thank you to those who have reached out.
  • Wednesday, February 14 – actor Playbill Ad/Messages are due. Think of our playbill as our annual fundraiser. Your actor will get a memory of a lifetime and the proceeds from all playbill ads help fund our amazing performing arts program. The playbill is a great way for a relative who is unable to attend to send a note of support or utilize this opportunity if you own a small business. Placing an ad in our playbill is a strategic way to reach the community. Click here to purchase your playbill ad and learn more. Scroll down on the page to find Playbill section.  Then please follow the rest of the instructions to submit the actual ad.
  • I encourage you to please take care of both the bio and playbill ad now. Knock it off your to-do list and feel like a rock star.
  • Again, Congrats to everyone who took our bio challenge! You did such a great job!
  • Save the Date:  March 17 in the morning before rehearsal we will be going to the zoo!

Healthy Snacks

Please do your best to provide healthy snacks, low in sugar. Healthy, low-sugar snacks help to keep our performers engaged, focused, and on task. We will not be using the vending machines. Again, please pack a water bottle too!

Follow us on Social Media

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Tickets Formally Go on Sale on February 7th

I look forward to seeing you work your magic on social media. Our parent digital marketing kits, as mentioned in our meeting, will be sent out in a few weeks. Friendly reminder: purchased tickets will be waiting for you at Will Call on the day of the performance. If you are interested in a yard sign or a marketing flyer to hang up at School, coffee shop, etc… please let me know.

The Count Down for Summer Camp 2024 has Begun

  • Registration opened Monday, January 22 for members.
  • Registration opened Monday, January 29 for non-members/camp friends
  • Early Registration pricing ends on March 1

Remember our performing arts camps are amazing and have limited space. We want to see you this summer, so please register today to save your spot! StarQuest has an official waitlist (still register if interested – in case a family drops) and StarPower has 8 spots left! Once full we will be starting an “official” waitlist for StarPower too!

New! One week theater specialty camps

  • July 15, July 22 and July 29!
  • Stay tuned for more info.

This is How We Do It At JPAS

I want to close by saying thank you! We appreciate you being a part of our JPAS family. I left our meeting on Sunday and rehearsals feeling energized and excited about our shared JPAS experience this season.

Shine Bright,

alise sig