Sign Up to Audition!
Auditions will take place Saturday, April 27 from 10 AM - 1 PM at the Center. Students are asked to prepare a one-minute contemporary musical theatre song in the style of the show. Callbacks are by invitation only. Please visit the audition form to start your audition today!
Click HERE to read the Audition Packet.
Technical Track 2024
Step BEHIND THE CURTAIN and learn and engage with industry professionals on how theatre lighting, sound, set design, and more work to produce a performance on stage! Applications are due Friday, MAY 3.
Check back soon for a tentative schedule for the 2024 TECHNICAL TRACK!
Join Broadway Professionals & Top High-School Talent From The Great Lakes Bay Region
We're so excited to present NEWSIES as our 2024 Rising Stars performance from JUN 26 - 29, 2024!
Midland Center for the Arts is searching for the top talent in the Great Lakes Bay Region that is interested in gaining professional-level experience and training from a Broadway Creative Team for a summer production of NEWSIES. This initiative is designed for Rising Stars, High School students (rising 9th graders through current graduating seniors), who will work through an intensive rehearsal process and star in a popular musical geared towards teens.
Rehearsals will include a professional-level schedule from MAY 29 - JUN 25.
For more information, please reach out to Travis Kendrick, Manager of Produced Theatre & Education, at kendrick@midlandcenter.org.
The 2024 Rising Stars Program is sponsored by
Meet the 2024 Creative Team
Chaz Wolcott
Chaz is ecstatic to return to Newsies Square! Chaz appeared on the First National Tour of Disney’s Newsies for 2 years and over 750 performances, he was featured in the filmed version, Newsies The Broadway Musical as Buttons, he played Race at Arena Stage in Washington D.C., and he has directed/choreographed the show 7 times! The original movie was a huge source of inspiration for Chaz in his childhood, and it’s truly magical to be able to help pass the torch to the next generation of ragamuffins.
Director/Choreographer credits include: Broadway - Red Bucket Follies, Broadway Backwards, and Gypsy of the Year, Regional - MT Wichita, The Gateway, 3D Theatricals, Westport Country Playhouse, Forestburgh Playhouse, Short North Stage, Millbrook Playhouse, Woodstock Playhouse, Interlakes Theatre, and Suncoast Broadway. Chaz is an Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre at University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (CCM). He holds an MFA in Theatre from the University of Idaho, and earned his BFA in Dance from Oklahoma City University. Chaz is thankful to join the Midland Center team with this show. Thank YOU for joining us. Newsies Forever! For more, visit chazwolcott.com
Leslie Wickham
Leslie has served as pianist and conductor on the North American tours of Anastasia and Disney’s Aladdin . He holds a Bachelors in Classical Piano Performance and a Masters in Music Direction from UC Irvine, and works as a vocal coach and piano teacher in New York City. Thanks to Mom, Dad, and Pat
Buy Tickets
Rising Stars: Disney's NEWSIES
Disney’s Newsies, based on the 1992 motion picture film, features a score by eight-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken and Jack Feldman, along with a book by four-time Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein. Inspired by the real-life Newsboy Strike of 1899, where newsboy Kid Blink led a band of orphaned and runaway "newsies" in a two-week-long battle against powerful newspaper publishers like Pulitzer and Hearst.
The 2024 Rising Stars Program is sponsored by
