Dana Hendry has been directing New Star Children’s Theatre for thirty years. New Star began in 1978 in Trenton, Ontario in Canada when as a 16 year old Dana wrote and directed her first children’s musical. Enlisting the help of her mom and sisters Dana put on her first production at the local high school and New Star was born. When Dana and her family moved to Hamilton, Ontario and later Ottawa Ontario, New Star relocated each time to the new city and continued to grow. In 2002 Dana got married and moved to California and started the New Star California while her sister continues to run the original New Star Children’s Theatre in Ottawa, Ontario. New Star California put on 13 successful productions over the course of 3 years in the Brentwood / Antioch area involving hundreds of children ranging in age from 4-17 years old. In addition to performing some of the classic well known Broadway standards, New Star performed 4 original musicals.

Dana and her family moved to Sacramento 2006 and after taking a year to settle in began working on establishing New Star Children’s Theatre in the Folsom area. Working in partnership with Stage Nine Theatre in Folsom, New Star has once again started putting on productions, including the two original productions, “Snow White”, and also, “Little Red and Goldilocks: Once Upon a Mixed Up Fairytale” as well as the classic “Annie Jr”.

Kayla Hendry as "Miss Hannigan" and Aundra Taylor as "Grace" in "Annie Jr" at Stage Nine in May 2008

Currently New Star is preparing to premier it’s original children’s musical “The Totally True Story of of Cinderella and the Prince” set to open October 4 & 11 at the Stage Nine Theatre in Folsom, as well as conducting two week summer day camps where the kids write their own scripts, create their own props and then put on a performance at the conclusion of the camp.

New Star will be holding auditions for their home school productions of their original musicals, “Little Red and Goldilocks Once Upon a Mixed Up Fairytale” on August 26, 10 a.m. for children ages 4-12 years old, and “That’ll Be the Day” on August 26, 1 p.m. for children ages 10-17 years old. Rehearsals for these plays are Tuesday, 10 a.m. - 12 noon for “Little Red” and 1-3:30 p.m. for “That’ll Be the Day”.

New Star will be holding auditions for their production of an original version of “Peter Pan A New Musical” on August 28 & 29, 5pm.

All auditions, rehearsals and performances will be held at Stage Nine Theatre in Folsom located at 717 Sutter Street, Folsom, CA 95630. To schedule an audition contact Dana Hendry at (916) 369-7141 or at newstarcal2@sbcglobal.net.

"Easy Street," performed by Kayla Hendry, James Sgambati and Rivi Hyatt in"Annie Jr" at Stage Nine Theatre in Folsom, May 2008

New Star welcomes you to see the varying levels of experience from “debuts” to “seasoned actors” in our productions. New Star’s expectation for the cast is that  each and every child or young adult that performs on stage strives to achieve their own personal best. Each child is accepted and expected to perform at their own talent and experience level and each person is special for their own reasons.

That is the philosophy that Dana works under in running New Star. This is not a theatre company for “Stars” but one that makes EVERY performer a STAR for their performances.