Sun will come out for Riverbend

For elementary students, producing a play can be a great learning experience.

For the students at Riverbend Elementary School in Yuba City, performing "Annie Jr." isn't just a learning experience in acting, directing, lighting and staging. It also a chance to learn about the Great Depression.

They will perform "Annie Jr." on Tuesday.

"I let the kids decide on what play to perform," said director Michele Wright. "They had seen a couple of movies about the Depression era, and were really looking at history. They also wanted to do a musical, so 'Annie Jr.' was perfect."

"Annie Jr." is largely the same play as "Annie," albeit shorter and with some of the darker elements of the story toned down for younger performers. But it still includes the classic songs "Tomorrow," "It's the Hard Knock Life" and "I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here," among others.

"Annie Jr." is the story of an 11-year-old orphan named Annie, played by Madelynn Heath. The year is 1933 and she lives in an orphanage run by Miss Hannigan.

Annie escapes the orphanage to go searching for her parents, but Lt. Ward, a policeman, catches her and returns her to the orphanage.

As she returns, Grace, assistant to billionaire Oliver Warbucks, is at the orphanage to take one orphan to live with her boss for the Christmas holiday. Because Annie is in Miss Hannigan's office, Grace takes her to live with Warbucks.

When she arrives at his mansion, she and Warbucks hit it off and they begin to search for Annie's real parents.

"Annie is an orphan looking for a better world," Wright said. "(She and Warbucks) find their way together.

"These are seventh- and eighth-graders who are perfoming this play," Wright said. "We have 30 kids, and everyone has a spot in the cast. They're training for lights, sound, the curtain — everything. (The play) is almost entirely student-ran, I'm just there keeping things on track."

Tuesday's performance won't be the only performance — the cast will also stage the play just for their schoolmates during the week.

"These kids are 12 and 13 and are singing and dancing on stage — that's pretty remarkable," Wright said.