(Provided photo)
The roles of Rooster in “Annie,” Edmund in “Narnia” and Gavroche in “Les Miserables” are now on Rowan Moxley’s résumé. It’s quite an accomplishment for the 11-year-old from Homewood.
He’s next up as Tom Sawyer in the Spotlight Theater production of “Tom Sawyer” this weekend. Shows are at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16; 2 and 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17; and 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, at Stagg High School Performing Arts Center, 8015 W. 111th Street, Palos Hills.
“Rowan is a very talented young actor,” said Charlie Misovye, president of The Drama Group in Chicago Heights. “He is dedicated to the craft and takes direction well,” Misovye adds.
Rowan, a student at Millennium School, was 9 when he began acting. Wearing a fedora and walking with a swagger, he became a crowd favorite with audiences as Rooster in the Spotlight Children’s Theater production of “Annie.”
“Rowan is a natural on stage. He is comfortable with dialects, acting and singing,” Misovye said. He worked with the young actor in The Drama Group children’s theatre production of “The Tail of the Little Mermaid,” as well as the Mainstage production of “Ragtime.”
“Usually, my favorite role is the one I’m in at the time,” said Rowan. “I do love being Tom Sawyer. In June, I was in Oak Lawn’s production of “Les Miserables” as Gavroche and that was a dream role. I had a lot of fun playing Gavroche.
“I love theater because of the interaction with the audience,” said Rowan. “In learning a play, I like memorizing the lines and then figuring out how to make it funny or serious — whatever the scene requires.”
“Rowan’s goal to be a professional actor is about to be realized,” said Misovye who will be working with him in November when the sixth grader performs in “A Christmas Story” at Theater at the Center in Munster Nov. 19 through Dec. 27. It will be his professional theater debut.
Rowan’s mother, Tracie Moxley, has stepped into the theater mom role perfectly.
She worked to find a representative for the young thespian who now is with Gray Talent Group, an agency that is involved with television, commercials and theater productions in Chicago.
“It was important to Rowan that his agency be connected to theater because his dream is to be on Broadway,” said Moxley. “We are just beginning that journey so we’ll see what happens.”
Information on this weekend’s production of “Tom Sawyer” is at www.spotlight.org. Information on the production of “A Christmas Story” is at www.TheatreAtTheCenter.com.
