'LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET': In the Swing of Things!

We are officially open and halfway through our run! I cannot even begin to express how much I love this cast and creative team, and the story we get to share with young audiences every week.

Metro Theater Company,Last Stop on Market Street, 2022. Photo: Jennifer A. Lin.

Being in the ensemble of this show has stretched me in more ways than I can count. Our choreographer, Chris Page-Sanders, did not go easy on us when it came to the hip-hop inspired musical numbers of 'Last Stop'. Each dance was a lesson in style, rhythm, specificity and stamina, only made more complex once singing was added the mix. Repetition was a must in this process - my motto through January was: "Practice until you get it right, then practice until you can't get it wrong." That work definitely paid off. Every day, I go onstage confident in my ability to not only do the choreography, but to use the choreography as a means to tell this story. I feel that I have grown so much as a dancer over the course of the last few weeks, and I am eager to continue pushing myself out of my comfort zone so I can become a more well-rounded performer.

As someone who had never done a Theatre for Young Audiences show in my life, I went into the rehearsal process thinking that TYA might be lighter or simpler than a show created for adult audiences. I could not have been more wrong!

Metro Theater Company,Last Stop on Market Street, 2022.

Photo: Jennifer A. Lin.

'Last Stop on Market Street' is so relevant to this generation of kids brought up with smartphones and tablets and social media - kids exposed to so much information so early on that they think they know better than their parents and guardians. CJ and Nana's story encourages children to put down their phones and discover the beauty of the world around them.

I have developed so much respect for TYA as an art form in working with Metro Theatre Company these last few weeks. We are exposing kids to the theatre sometimes for the first time in their lives, and inspiring the next generation of artists and audience-members. At the end of each show, we get to do a Q&A, and

every time I am in awe of the curiosity and wonder this piece evokes in kids anywhere from five to eleven years old. I leave the theater each day with a new sense of hope for the future of this world, and though this is my first TYA show, I know it will not be the last!

Metro Theater Company,Last Stop on Market Street, 2022.

Photo: Jennifer A. Lin.

Catch 'Last Stop on Market Street' at the Grandel Theatre or stream it from the comfort of your own home through February 27th. Links for tickets can be found below.

LSOMS TIX

In-Person: https://www.metrotix.com/events/detail/metro-theater-company-last-stop-on-market-street

At-Home Streaming: https://metroplays.ticketspice.com/last-stop-on-market-street-streaming