It’s been said that there’s a lot of talent in Johnson County, and Saturday’s performance was a powerful demonstration of the amazing ability of the youth of the county. This past weekend, the Johnson County Young Artists presented the musical, “The Circle of Life,” an original work written by Lacy Hilliard.

 Lisa Zeggert directed the play with assistance from her co-director, Michael Eggers. “Lisa Zeggert is a creative genius,” said Hilliard. The musical is loosely based on the movie, “The Lion King.” From that idea came the beginnings of Hilliard’s first play, “The Circle of Life.”  The first draft was completed in approximately two weeks, but she ended up adding new scenes and characters to fit the growing number of actors.  “It was very challenging because I am not used to that style of writing,” Hilliard said. “It was a lot of fun and made me want to do it again.” Katie Walsh, along with assistance from Aisia Robbins, was in charge of the choreography.  “I am extremely impressed with the level of artistry in the dancing,” she said. This was Walsh’s first attempt at choreography.

The theme of the musical was learning to resolve conflict and live together in peace and harmony. In the jungle a tribe of people lived side by side with the animal kingdom. Each morning the tribal people would meet and receive words of wisdom from Rafifki, the spiritual leader. However, there was discord in the jungle among the animals and people. They found they could not live in harmony with each other. After a drought and an impressive fight scene, the tribal people and the animals chose peace and harmony over dissension. The rains came and there was joyous celebration. Not surprisingly, it was the children who pled with the leaders to stop the fighting. “Peace has been restored to these great lands,” said Rafiki.  More...