For the City Times

Sarah Lawrence College from New York will tour five Central Wisconsin towns with the original children’s musical Little Pea – A New Musical for Young and Old Audiences.

The musical is presented as part of the ARTi Gras 2017 festival of the arts which runs March 9 – 18. Performances will take place in Wisconsin Rapids, Stevens Point, Port Edwards, Nekoosa, and Bancroft.

The show was created and developed by the award winning Sarah Lawrence College Theatre Outreach Program. Little Pea was written by Stevens Point native Allen Lang with music and lyrics by Shirley Kaplan.

Both Lang and Kaplan are Sarah Lawrence College Theatre faculty members. Kaplan, a noted New York director, also directed the play.

The cast features Sarah Lawrence College theatre students Michelle Hernandez, Sky Mihaylo, Aidan Cleary and Grace Gilmore. The actors will be available to meet the audience and sign programs following each performance. Lil Pea is a participatory show which is appropriate for ages four thru one hundred, with a running time of 40 minutes. The set for Lil Pea will feature original art work and drawings created by area children and local artists.

The tour times and dates are:

Friday March 10, 3:00 p.m. at John Edwards School located at 801 2nd St, Port Edwards — 5:00 p.m. at Boys and Girls Club, located at 501 17th St South.

Saturday March 11,  9:00 p.m. at Portage County Library, located at 1001 Main St, Stevens Point; 11:30 p.m. at McMillan Memorial Library, 1:30 p.m. at Bancroft School, Bancroft; and 3:30 p.m. at Alexander Middle School, located at 40 Birch St, Nekoosa.

Information about the entire ARTi Gras program is available at www.wrctheatre.org/artigras.