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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
SCOTTSDALE PROGRESS | WWW.SCOTTSDALE.ORG | JANUARY 2, 2022
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Scottsdale Arts pleased with 2021, excited about 2022 BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer
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021 turned out to be a year of promise for Scottsdale Arts. After most events were scaled back or canceled due to COVID-19 in 2020, vaccines and eased protocols helped Scottsdale Arts slowly recover. “This is the season where we are supposed to reflect and be thankful,” said Scottsdale Arts CEO and President Gerd Wuestemann. “A year ago, I was incredibly grateful for having been able to keep our team together and stay as open as one could stay open as an arts organization.” Scottsdale Arts resumed performances when it kicked off its fall with the current performances protocol requiring attendees to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test within 72 hours of an event.
A groundbreaking last year marked the start of construction of Scottsdale Arts CEO Gerd Wuestemann’s grand vision for the Civic Center. (Progress file photo)
“I think our policies have been shown to work in giving people a piece of mind to come and enjoy a performance and be a part of the wonders of the arts while feeling safe,” Wuestemann said. “Our staff has worked excruciatingly hard but has also contributed to making us thrive through the past six months even though the challenge of producing shows has remained.” Though the shows have been a challenge to produce, Wuestemann has been impressed by the talent that has graced the stage of the Center for the Performing Arts this season, beginning with Soul and R&B artist Mavis Staples in mid-September. “Mavis is an icon of Soul and R&B and she is just as much of an icon of the civil rights movement in the 60’s,” he said. “When we had her on stage, she belted
see RECAP page 23
Limelight youth theater presenting ‘Newsies’ PROGRESS NEWS STAFF
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hen Disney’s “Newsies: The Broadway Musical” opens at the Mesa Arts Center on Jan. 6, it will bring many dreams to life – from dream roles and dream choreography to the director’s decades-long dream to produce the show with a youth cast. “I fell in love with ‘Newsies’ when I was kid and saw the movie in the theater,” said Emma England, artistic director of Limelight Performing Arts, the Gilbertbased youth theater company producing the musical. “I have wanted to stage this production for the last 20 years. It’s truly a dream that is finally being fulfilled.” The show features a cast of nearly 50 performers ages 10-22 hailing from
Westley Caryl and Anna Scales of Scottsdale practiced a scene as Kayla King helped them get their moves down during rehearsal for Limelight Performing Arts’ presentation of “Newsies.” (David Minton/Progress Staff Photographer)
across the Valley. Based on the 1992 motion picture and the real-life Newsboy Strike of 1899, the musical tells the story of Jack Kelly, a rebellious newsboy who dreams of a life as an artist away from New York City. When titans of publishing raise distribution prices at the newsboys’ expense, Jack rallies a ragtag gang of teenage newsies to strike against the unfair conditions and fight for what’s right. Tre Moore, 17, plays the leading role. “Jack has been a dream role of mine since I first listened to the ‘Newsies’ cast album when I was 11,” he said. “He is charismatic and confident, but also sensitive and ambitious with a big heart.
see NEWSIES page 23
