On Saturday, Oct. 11 and Sunday, Oct. 12 at 2 p.m., everything the Altoona Area High School auditorium stage light touched was Altoona Community Theatre’s (ACT) kingdom—a lion’s kingdom.

In 2023, ACT founded a central Pennsylvania chapter of The Penguin Project, a national foundation that provides a supportive environment for children with disabilities. These children are paired with student mentors and work together to bring a Broadway musical production to the stage. This year, the roars of Disney’s “The Lion King, Jr.” echoed in the auditorium.

“We were looking for a script that had a bigger cast,” project coordinator Tara Enedy said. “This is our first show that is a little more on the fantasy side, so the kids get to be animals rather than regular human characters. That was appealing to us, and the music is beautiful. Some of the production team had worked on a production of ‘The Lion King, Jr.’ around 10 years ago, and they were eager to revisit it because they had such a good time the first time around.”

Rehearsals for the production began in late May. In the first four rehearsals, the students and production team became acquainted with one another.

“We give everybody a chance to read for a role that they might be interested in playing, and then the casting process happens,” Enedy said. “We’ve been fortunate at this point that every kid who shows up and commits to being part of the project gets a role in the show. We have not yet outgrown ourselves that we can’t accommodate anybody who wants to be involved.”

Three years ago, Ellen Frye saw the ACT’s program on Facebook for children who have special needs. She talked with her son, sixth grader Malachi Aknkeny, and they decided to attend the general meeting. Since then, Aknkeny has participated in all three productions: “Annie, Jr.,” “Aladdin, Jr.,” and played young Simba in the most recent production. His most memorable moment was dancing.

“[My mentor Molly] is one of my best friends. I’ve known her for a long time, even though she just joined [The Penguin Project] last year,” Aknkeny said.

Tami Hinish, ACT’s The Penguin Project parent coordinator, connects with families such as Aknkeny’s and acclimates them to the production process.

“I want [families] to realize that our goal is to meet each child where they are, and to highlight all of the wonderful and amazing things that they can do instead of focusing on their disability,” Hinish said. “My favorite part of The Penguin Project is watching the community build and the friendships that all of our kids begin to make. All of that happens well before our final production.”

Hinnish is grateful that she was able to help implement this project in the community.

“I personally had two sons, Zack and Conner. Both of my sons had pretty severe neurological disabilities. [The Penguin Project] combines both passions of my life, which is working with children with disabilities, as well as community theater. I am very, very proud to be a part of a program that spotlights children that have disabilities. This is an opportunity for them to partake in a more typical type of school activity that they wouldn’t necessarily have the opportunity to participate in otherwise,” Hinish said.

The first time the actress playing Rafiki stood on Pride Rock and sang the opening lines of the musical, Enedy knew this experience would be a “core memory” for her.

“I want people to see these kids for who they are, in their personalities and how they shine, and not just that they have special needs, and not just that they have a physical disability,” Enedy said. “These are great kids, and they deserve equal opportunities to be included and to develop their own creative talents, just like anybody else; we want to give them equal opportunities to participate in the creative arts.”

This story was originally published on Mountain Echo on October 17, 2025.