More than a dozen Leland elementary students will be featured Friday and Saturday in a series of vignettes from children’s author Shel Silverstein’s collection of children’s poetry, Where the Sidewalk Ends.

The students, in grades 3-6, have been rehearsing for weeks in the mornings before school starts.
DEVOTED TO early-morning rehearsals are (back row, from left) Rachel Bechtel, Shelby Budzinski and Eva Marie Grobbel, and Mollie Grishaw (front).
“These young actors, most of whom have no experience on stage, have been working very hard and they and their families are dedicated to rehearsing at 7 a.m. before school starts,” director Laura Mittelstaedt said.

The production features vignettes from Silvertstein’s work, which addresses many common childhood concerns and also presents purely fanciful stories.

The cast includes third-graders Jackson Arens, Mollie Grishaw, Hannah Creamer and Justinamay Schaub; fourth-graders Garrett Buta-Scott, Abby Gross and Cormac Murphy; fifth-graders Andy Bakker, Rachel Bechtel and Jennifer McMullen; and sixth-graders Shelby Budzinski, Rachel Carman and Eva Marie Grobbel.

Performances are scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Leland Performing Arts Center.

The program is made possible with support from the Verdier Circle of Friends.
PERFORMING “Him & Me” from Where the Sidewalk Ends are Jackson Arens and Cormac Murphy.