San Diego Junior Theatre Presents EDGAR ALLAN POE'S GRUESOME GALLERY OF GROTESQUERIE, January 13-22

San Diego Junior Theatre, the nation's longest-running youth theatre program, continues its 75th Anniversary Season with the world premiere of Edgar Allan Poe's Gruesome Gallery of Grotesquerie!

Through tales of murderous madmen or supernatural mystery, Poe's enigmatic musings endure because they allow us to confront some of our greatest fears and delight in the darkness while reflecting on our own life. Co-developed in collaboration with Junior Theatre students and cast members, this wholly original production will fuse storytelling, poetry, music, movement and puppetry to explore the works of Edgar Allan Poe.

In this first-time venture for Junior Theatre, returning director Blake McCarty (last season's Head Over Heels) brings his years of devising experience as the Founder and Executive Artistic Director of Blindspot Collective to guide JT's students through the process of creating a show from scratch! JT alumnus, Morgan Hollingsworth, is composing original music for the production. Hollingsworth is no stranger to this subject, having created the musical The House of Edgar Allan Poe, produced in 2019 as part of Weber State University's mainstage season.

This celebration of all things macabre is a JT World Premiere!

Edgar Allan Poe's Gruesome Gallery of Grotesquerie will run from January 13-22 and is recommended for ages 10 years old and up.

Junior Theatre strongly encourages all eligible patrons to be fully vaccinated and boosted against COVID-19. For the safety of our unvaccinated students who perform without masks, and our young, unvaccinated patrons, masks are still required for all patrons two years old and up. Patrons are asked to check https://juniortheatre.com/covid-19-safety/ for full details and any policy updates prior to attending a performance.

Founded in 1948, Junior Theatre is celebrating 75 years of providing engaging, innovative, high-quality theatre education and productions for children of all cultural heritage, ages, abilities, and levels of interest. Junior Theatre training fosters creativity, imagination and independent thinking which helps a young person face life's challenges and discover themselves and their place in this world. Students gain confidence, learn leadership, practice teamwork and build a skill set - not only for a theatre stage, but for the larger stage of the real world. Notable alumni include Tony Award-winning Broadway star Brian Stokes Mitchell, Casey Nicholaw, director/choreographer of such Broadway hits as Mean Girls, The Book of Mormon and Something Rotten!, and many others who have gone on to success in a variety of fields. Junior Theatre's motto is "Theatre skills are skills for life!"

All Junior Theatre productions are performed in Balboa Park's historic Casa del Prado Theatre, 1600 Village Place, at the corner of Old Globe Way and Village Place. Tickets are $16 - $18. Discounts are available for groups of 15 or more. For tickets and more information, visit www.juniortheatre.com or call the box office at 619-239-8355.