PORTSMOUTH- The Portsmouth Area Arts Council (PAAC), through its Portsmouth Area Children’s Theatre (PACT), is ready to open yet another season of musical productions, now with its first cast of the season announced for the musical Disney’s Descendants.

Once the fall season has wrapped Disney’s Descendants, the troupe will cast the winter Addams Family production and spring Disney’s Newsies Jr.

According to the organization, PAAC formed the Portsmouth Area Children’s Theatre in the fall of 2010 based on the growing need for a year-round children’s theatre program. Since then, they have welcomed over 500 student members, graduated over 50 alumni, and have over 150 adult sustaining members.

“By immersing children in the theatre’s creative process, they are academically challenged during rehearsals, mentally engaged in their performance, and develop their communication and listening skills,” the PAAC website explains. “They learn to take direction but are also afforded the freedom of individual expression.”

This is the first season Boyles will be leading as executive director of the organization, since she was hired to replace previous Executive Bailey Hartlage in between seasons.

PAAC President Amy Barnhart explained that the role of executive director is a tough job, but the board is very excited about Boyles stepping into a legacy of great directors.

“The executive director is the central figure in leading the Portsmouth Area Arts Council,” Barnhart said, “This role involves managing the organization’s administration, grants, and programs. The executive director also works closely with the Board of Trustees to coordinate fundraising, marketing, and community outreach efforts.”

Barnhart said that Boyles is a great fit for the role.

“This may seem like a lot, but I’m sure Dani Boyles is up for the challenge. Her theater experience, marketing knowledge, and devotion to our children’s theater will be an exciting asset to our organization,” Barnhart claimed. “Although there have been some recent changes to the organization, our 2024-2025 season will be exhilarating! We look forward to creating many more memorable moments for our young actors and our community.”

Boyles has been involved in regional theatre for most of her life, with many high-profile roles under her belt and connections within the theatre and arts community coming with those experiences.

Boyles has experience working with youth in theatrical productions and says that she is excited to make these types of productions her focus moving forward.

“Doing theatre with kids is something that is really cool, because, when they really love it and you can connect with them, they just become this whole new person,” Boyles recalled. “It is just really cool to see and I’m excited to be part of that. As far as theatre goes, I’ve been on the stage; I’ve done that stuff and I’m ready to be backstage and being part of making opportunities happen.”

Boyles is jumping into the deep end in her new role, co-directing Disney’s Descendants with Nick Gray.

“Nick is breathing this amazing life into the show and getting the kids excited, and I will be working on dance and blocking. I’m excited to start with this experiment of him and I directing together,” Boyles said. “I’m also very excited about hiring a new artistic director to teach the kids starting with Addams Family.”

According to the synopsis of the show, written by Musical Theatre International, “Once upon a time, Belle and the Beast united all the Disney fairy tale kingdoms in an idyllic land called Auradon. To ensure peace in Auradon, villains and their sidekicks were banished to the Isle of the Lost, a wretched, magic-free island. Separated by a magical portal, the citizens lived isolated from each other for many years. Twenty years later, in present day Auradon, Ben – the teenaged son of Belle and the Beast – prepares a speech for his upcoming coronation. Ben reveals his first official decree to his parents: the children on the Isle of the Lost will come to live in Auradon. As a test run, Ben has chosen the children of Maleficent, Evil Queen Grimhilde, Jafar, and Cruella De Vil to leave the Isle to attend Auradon Prep. Terrified of this plan, Belle and the Beast tell their son that this will be his one chance to bring villains into their world; if it fails, the portal between the two worlds will be closed forever.”

The Addams Family will continue the season.

Theatrical Rights Worldwide explains it as, “The Addams Family, a comical feast that embraces the wackiness in every family, features an original story and it’s every father’s nightmare: Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family–a man her parents have never met. And if that wasn’t upsetting enough, Wednesday confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Now, Gomez Addams must do something he’s never done

before–keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday’s “normal” boyfriend and his parents.”

Newsies will close the season of musical theatre options.

Musical Theatre International explains it as, “It’s time to carry the banner on your stage with Disney’s Newsies! Set in turn-of-the century New York City, Newsies is the rousing tale of Jack Kelly, a charismatic newsboy and leader of a band of teenaged ‘newsies.’ When titans of publishing raise distribution prices at the newsboys’ expense, Jack rallies newsies from across the city to strike against the unfair conditions and fight for what’s right!”

As a new executive director, Boyles is looking heavily at the upcoming season of shows and says she is very excited for the planned lineup.

“This is an exciting season, because it is a wonderful blend of old and new stories,” Boyles said. “The Descendants is a wonderful selection, because kids really adore this property in a cult classic kind of way. The Addams Family is a favorite of mine; it is a show I absolutely adore, because it is hilarious and heartfelt. Newsies Jr. is a huge dance show and is compelling because of its exciting story that touches on history that leads to wonderful opportunities to expand through curriculum and learn from true events.”

Outside of continuing the standard PAAC and PACT practices, Boyles says she is also busy planning new curriculum options on the shows they present, increasing physical art and partnerships with people like Sharee Price and SouthCentral Ohio Educational Service Center, and fundraising opportunities.

For more information on PAAC, visit their website at www.paac4kids.org.