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Backstage pass: The multi-layered drama and joy of Penguin Project's 'The Lion King Jr.'

The show, at Bunnell Elementary School, featured kids with special needs, acting alongside mentors on the stage.

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I volunteered (mostly willingly) to help backstage during a dress rehearsal and the final performance at the Penguin Project’s “The Lion King Jr.” last week, at Bunnell Elementary School. The show rehearsals, featuring dozens of kids with special needs and their mentors, are sometimes three hours long. 

My job was to move Scar’s chair onstage, then remove it. I did an OK job.

As fictional Simba is learning to have no worries (“hakuna matata”) under the bright lights onstage, other actors with special needs are battling their real worries behind the curtains. A few have outbursts, cry, and threaten to quit. Without fail, their parents and other volunteers are there to support the kids and respond with care.  

In one rehearsal, stress increased as practice time was running out, and I saw the Young Simba actor, Nathaniel Goncalves, get pulled aside by his mother, Lindsey Goncalves. She listened intently. She was there for him. And he opened up. 

“This is really a lot and I’m really tired,” he told her. 

I’m sure many participants (ages 8 to 25) felt the same way. My daughter was one of the mentors, and the hours were long for her, too.

“But,” Nathaniel said, “the end result is going to be worth it.”

Lindsey appeared to tear up as she told me about the interaction, which I assume would not have been possible without her patient approach. She was proud of her son, who was learning resilience and sacrifice in a powerful way. The show must go on, worries or no worries. 

Two of the actors used wheelchairs and one used a walker. A lot of family members, including siblings and cousins, were involved.

This is the fourth annual Penguin Project play produced by Flagler Playhouse, which is one of six Penguin Project chapters in the state of Florida. Each production takes about four months of preparation with the participants. 

A group of mothers took over costume creation. They set up shop at the school and spent months creating papier-mâché animal heads and custom-tailoring costumes for every actor.

Being backstage, I was able to see these costumes up close, and the detail was impressive. Each painted eye of each lioness, for example, required many brush strokes. The back of the Pumbaa costume featured zip ties, which no one could see from the audience; those zip ties were still painted red. The crew that made the costumes happen included Amber Landrum, Mary Jackson, Priscilla Henry, Christiana Buffington, Sandra Sanderson, Cindy Guldenschuh and Barbara Van Arstale.

One of the most powerful moments of the show was actually the “post-credits” scene. Disney’s “The Lion King,” of course, does not end with a cover of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” But the Penguin Project’s retelling does, whether it's a practice or a rehearsal or a show. 

That final song is when the jubilant, saintly leader of the Penguin Project, Jerri Berry, shines. As everyone dances on stage, she holds hands or sings with each of them, one by one, beaming. They beam right back. She openly wipes tears from her own cheeks, showing the intensity of this show, the personal triumphs.

The audience sings along, sending a message: Yes, our dear friends, please don’t stop believing in yourselves. Please keep your heads high, keep trying, keep creating art, keep spreading joy.

— Brent Woronoff contributed.

 

author

Brian McMillan

Brian McMillan and his wife, Hailey, bought the Observer in 2023. Before taking on his role as publisher, Brian was the editor from 2010 to 2022, winning numerous awards for his column writing, photography and journalism, from the Florida Press Association.

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