This weekend, and next, the Riverside Children's Theatre will be performing Finding Nemo Jr. at the Martin Luther King Jr. High School theatre. The cast, made up of 87 kids, ranging from kindergarten to 8th grade, from all around the Inland Empire, are all members of the RCT Saturday school that teaches drama and theatre to kids.

Cagney Slaughter, publicity manager for RCT, said that it's "a family thing" for them, as her son, who was enrolled, followed in his dad's footsteps who also performed for RCT as a kid. Even though her son has aged out, he continues to pursue theatre opportunities with the community theatres throughout the IE.

RCT, supported completely by parent volunteers, has been active since 1957, and even found ways to continue through the COVID "dark times", and many of the participants are second and third generation RCT students. You may have even seen some RCT Alumni in your favorite tv shows as some have gone on to do work in Hollywood.
It "helps with life skills, like making relationships, public speaking, and things like that. So even if they never do theatre again after this they get a lot from RCT" said Slaughter.

In the performance, Marlin and Dori, played by Emre Tuncel and Addison Kearl-Brown in the opening shows, are obviously the stand out for the show and demonstrate fantastic chemistry with one another, playing off each others timing and humor very well. Costuming choices, like Marlin's orange wing-tips, Nemo's Orange checkered vans, and Dori's blue tulle were creative ways to enhance the look of the characters.

Rowan Bullock-Vaughan, who performs dual roles as Coral, Nemo's mom who is killed at the beginning, and Bubbles, a member of the "Tank Gang" was another that stood out for me during the show. Their ability to bring an amazing amount of depth to the character of Bubbles, despite only saying "bubbles" throughout the show was impressive, as was their obvious adeptness for comedic timing that is often difficult for even seasoned performers. The "Tank Gang" as a whole was a favorite of mine and I looked forward to them being on the stage as they all played very well off each other.

Throughout the performance I had to keep reminding myself that these were kids, and not professional actors, as they all did a fantastic job, with very few mistakes. The shows this weekend have all sold out, but do not fret, tickets are available for all three shows next weekend starting January 27 @ 7:30. Get your tickets at the RCT online box office.