Interview
How Rosie鈥檚 Theater Kids Led to Professional Gigs for 2 NYC Students
Participants in Rosie O鈥橠onnell鈥檚 youth arts organization Kenneth Cabral, 13, and Nanyellin Liriano, 14, bow tonight in Encores! Off-Center鈥檚 Really Rosie.
鈥淎t Rosie鈥檚 Theater Kids our motto is 鈥楻ehearsing for Life,鈥欌� says 14-year-old Nanyellin Liriano, 鈥渁nd I see now what that means.鈥� Rosie O鈥橠onnell and Lori Klinger founded Rosie鈥檚 Theatre Kids when they realized that the students of PS 51, a school bordering the theatre district, walked through Broadway every day and never had the opportunity to see the shows. The free program offers in-school and after-school classes in movement, voice, spoken word, and more to expose kids at Title I schools (typically in underprivileged neighborhoods) to the arts, and teach them life skills through the rehearsal and performance process; hence, rehearsing for life.
To learn more about Rosie鈥檚 Theater Kids, .
As of late, Liriano, along with fellow Rosie鈥檚 Theater Kid, 13-year-old Kenneth Cabral, have been rehearsing for Really Rosie, the next offering in City Center鈥檚 Encores! Off-Center series this summer.
Written by famed children鈥檚 author Maurice Sendak (Where the Wild Things Are) and recording legend Carole King (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), Really Rosie first aired as an animated TV special in 1975 before the stage adaptation bowed Off-Broadway in 1980. Now the story of a little Brooklynite with big dreams comes back to NYC, and Liriano and Cabral take their biggest bow yet.
Since its inception in 2003, Rosie鈥檚 Theater Kids has introduced theatre to over 65,000 New York City youths and鈥攁s in the cases of Liriano and Cabral鈥攈as groomed performers of tomorrow. 鈥淩osie鈥檚 Theater Kids teaches us to work as a team, but also to step out and take our moment,鈥� says Cabral, the third of three brothers to go through the program.
Though Cabral made his Off-Broadway debut in last year鈥檚 Runaways Off-Broadway, he will get his Rosie moment when the show begins performances August 2. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 wait for my tap piece with Ayodele [Casel]!鈥� he says. 鈥淎lso, I like to see my castmates perform because I know I can always learn something from them.鈥� Liriano agrees that the cast 鈥渉as become like a family.鈥�
That combined sense of accomplishment and teamwork is at the foundation of Rosie鈥檚 Theater Kids. The organization encourages students to reach their potential, and Really Rosie has rendered that goal a reality for Cabral. 鈥淸I didn鈥檛 know] how far I can push myself,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 quite realize all this was inside me.鈥�
Though it鈥檚 a ways away for the ninth-grader, Liriano hopes to perform when she finishes college. (鈥淏ut whatever happens, I鈥檒l always go to the theatre. I love seeing shows!鈥� she says.) Cabral adds, 鈥淚 can鈥檛 imagine not being onstage. Hopefully in a show with my two brothers鈥攖hat would be great!鈥�
For now, they鈥檒l light up City Center as the worlds of two Rosie鈥檚 collide.
Really Rosie plays City Center August 2鈥�5, 2017. For tickets and information, .
