Mid-World Players to Partner with Action Youth America for Will Rogers' WRAP Drama Club's 2022/23 Season

Jesse Seann Atkinson, Founder and Artistic Director of Mid-World Players, has teamed up with Action Youth America to work together with Will Roger's Middle School WRAP Drama Club. The WRAP program is an after school event that allows middle school kids to participate in a number of clubs such as Cheerleading, Dungeon's and Dragon's and Drama Club. Their season opens with She Kills Monsters, then onto The Addam's Family Musical, and finishing with William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Nights Dream.

Back in April of this year, Jesse was asked, by a fan of Mid-World, if he would be interested in directing an after school theatre program for middle schoolers. They invited him to a rehearsal for their end of year production of Middle Class, Too and he was very impressed by what he saw. "We always wanted to implement a children's program into our mix, but never knew exactly what we wanted," said Jesse, "One thing was for sure, we wanted to stand out from the other programs that charged hundreds of dollars to participate in overly crowded children's productions." After witnessing a few rehearsals and finding out that it was a free program for students from that school to participate in, he was excited to discuss the next steps.

Jesse spent the next month assistant directing Middle Class, Too, along with Patricia Spievak, and got to know all of the actors and some of the parents that wanted to be involved. "These weren't just kids playing drama club, these were young actors that wanted to hone in on their craft, and learn, and better themselves. They looked to myself and Pat for guidance. They would come back to the next rehearsal, demonstrating how they went home and took my notes to heart and delivered."

For the 2022-2023 Season of Roger's Middle School WRAP Drama Club, Jesse has put together a season sure to impress not only the teachers and parents, but all patrons in the audience and followers of Mid-World Players. "I want to push these kids to unlock their inner potential so they can realize how incredible they really are. They will not only be rehearsing for shows, but we will spend time learning breathing technique, projection, dance, voice, set design, costume design, lighting design and all other facets of stage craft." Mid-World will also be using their warehouse of set pieces and costumes to help build these middle school productions. "The WRAP Program couldn't be more excited to partner up with Jesse and the Mid-World Players in this new endeavor," exclaimed Edward, the WRAP program director at Roger's.

Mid-World Players recently won Broadway Worlds 2021 Regional Awards (Los Angeles) for Best Musical with their sold out performance of Green Day's American Idiot. Founded in Long Beach, California, Mid-World has performed around Orange County and also Los Angeles. During the pandemic, they kept theatre alive through many of their streaming productions, all filmed while practicing social distancing. Mid-World is here to create theatre, including classics, new original pieces, and plays and musicals that most companies are afraid to produce. As a final statement, Jesse Seann Atkinson said, "This is only the beginning. We may be a new company, but we are ready push forward and bring amazing productions, with low ticket prices, to the masses."

You can learn more about Mid-World Players on their Facebook page, Instagram, and at www.midworldplayers.com.