A herd of 50+ elementary school students from across the neighborhood and beyond have been hard at work rehearsing “The Lion King” for Fourth Presbyterian Church’s Mainstage Theatre performance this weekend.

This will be Fourth’s fourth production of “The Lion King,” following their 2020 run, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pastor Burns Staflield said they chose the show to accommodate a larger cast, with the encouragement of Vocal Instructor Alison Slade.

“[Slade] has a lot of the kids as voice students and was advocating for this because she had a couple of students that she thought could do parts,” Stanfield said.

There is a lot of legwork involved in wrangling a cast of this size into lions, tigers, and bears. Stanfield said sourcing help is key. A combined effort of him, Slade, choreographer Sarah Cooper, and Director of Children’s and Youth Ministries Janine Warrington work with the students, play the live music, and plan original choreography to give the cast a well-rounded theatre experience.

Other community members have also stepped up to convert the church’s sanctuary into a functional Pride Rock. Crafternoon, the church’s after-school arts and crafts group, have produced a number of props and puppets – including the wildebeests that stampede at the show’s climax. The very stage itself is the brainchild of a parent 

“They’re not necessarily members of the church,” Stanfield said. “It’s just community members, parents, people coming in with the skillsets you need at the right time.” He described the production process as a labor of love, likening the result to the closing scene of “The Music Man.”

“Somebody stands up in the crowd and says, ‘Look, there’s my nephew, Johnny, playing the trombone.’ And somebody else says, ‘and there’s little Billy playing the trumpet.’ They love the kids so much that they love the music,” he said. “There’s so much love in all the people that have gathered that the show will be beautiful.”

Ben Rogers, whose son Sam Rogers will play the younger version of Simba, said the entry-level theatre experience offered at Fourth has been important to his son’s development. 

“It’s great to watch him. He enjoys it, and I like watching him enjoy it,” Ben Rogers said. “I don’t know of anywhere else close to here that you can do anything like this, so this has been pretty important for him.”

“The Lion King” will open on December 5 and 6, at 7p.m alongside Crafternoon’s final art exhibit. The following week, the Teen Theatre will perform “What The Dickens” on December 12 and 13.