New Venture Theatre’s latest production, Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical, breaks down the history of the Little Rock Nine in a way that kids can understand.
The Little Rock Nine was a group of nine black students enrolled at an all-white school in Little Rock, Arkansas, in the late 1950s. These students were met with unimaginable discrimination and torment, prompting President Eisenhower to intervene on their behalf.
Polkadots, mirroring this story, follows 8-year-old Lily Polkadot, who moves to the “Squares only” town of Rockaway. Like the Little Rock Nine, she is faced with bullying, and as the only Polkadot in a Square school, she finds it nearly impossible to fit in and gain acceptance from her peers.
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That is until she meets Sky, a “shy Square boy whose curiosity for her unique polkadot skin blooms into an unexpected” friendship. The show “serves as a colorful history lesson for children, reminding them that our individual differences make us awesome, not outcasts.”
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Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical is at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow, March 2, and at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 3.
Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for students with valid ID. Purchase here.
All three performances will be held in the Shaver Theatre, in LSU’s Music & Dramatic Arts Building on Dalrymple Drive.