Kabrillo Kids alumni sing an encore

Grown-up child performers appear in TGIF concert



Erin Ticktin

Erin Ticktin

Cabrillo Music Theatre’s annual offering at Westlake Village’s TGIF event last week was bittersweet for longtime artistic director Lewis Wilkenfeld.

Wilkenfeld will be vacating the post he has held for 10 years at Cabrillo. Among the marks he has left on the company is the creation of the Kabrillo Kids nine years ago.

The Kids is an ensemble of child performers who present musical shows at various venues including Naval Base Ventura County and the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. Friday’s TGIF concert featured several former members of the Kabrillo Kids.

So while this may have been the last TGIF concert Wilkenfeld will direct, it was also a reunion of sorts with some of the young people he helped guide toward a career in show business.

The July 1 concert, “Disney Under the Stars,” featured songs from Disney films such as “Frozen,” “Mary Poppins” and “Aladdin” in addition to Cabrillo’s forthcoming production of “The Little Mermaid,” which opens July 15 at the Fred Kavli Theatre.

We visited with some of the former Kabrillo Kids and asked them about their favorite Cabrillo memories and what they are up to now.

Veronica Dunne, 21, plays Marisa in the Disney Channel series “K.C. Undercover” and will soon begin filming “The Ninth Passenger” in Canada.

“I started with Cabrillo when I was 10 or 11 when I was in ‘Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,’” Dunne said. “Being in a show of that caliber at that age was just an amazing memory for me.”

Jennifer Foster, 25, is performing in “Frozen” at the Hyperion Theater at Disney California Adventure Park.

“Cabrillo was doing ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ and I wanted to be in that show in any way possible, so Lewis made a spot for me in the ensemble, where I had to sit behind a set piece, ‘stage right panel,’ and push it around for a long period of time,” Foster said. “I’d joke with the person on the same set piece on the opposite side of the stage, and we’d just hang out and crack jokes. That was a favorite memory of mine.”

Kurt Kemper, 19, is studying for his BFA in musical theater at Point Park Conservatory of Performing Arts in Pittsburgh.

“For me, being a Kabrillo Kid was my launching pad,” he said. “My favorite times were the long, long days where we traveled to and from places to perform and sing all day. Those were really exciting for me.”

Michael Kennedy, 19, is a junior performing arts student at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Va.

“My favorite memory was performing at TGIF because it was such a fun experience to practice before we opened a show and have such a warm reception from everyone. It was just a fun community experience.”

Quinn Martin, 16, will be a junior at Hillcrest Christian High School in Thousand Oaks.

“Playing Elsa from ‘Frozen’ at the naval base was so exciting because there were hundreds of kids there and they were so excited to see us,” she said. “You really feel the love at those events.”

Erin Ticktin, 18, will be a sophomore at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, majoring in recreation, parks and tourism administration.

“When I did ‘White Christmas,’ I was the only kid in the show,” she said, “and at the cast party my Secret Santa gave me a little piggy bank that she painted for me. I still have it today, but receiving that was really a wonderful memory for me.

“And also, the Seniorpaloozas, when we drove from location to location, blasting show tunes in the car, pulling out harmonies from nowhere.”




Missy Marion, Kurt Kemper

Missy Marion, Kurt Kemper

Michael Kennedy

Michael Kennedy

Dunne

Dunne

Foster

Foster

Martin

Martin

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