Zion Opera Workshop’s children’s theater group “ZOW Junior” is set to perform its second musical, “Disney’s Peter Pan Junior,” on Mother’s Day weekend.

Shows are to be performed at 7 p.m. May 12 and 2 p.m. May 13. Tickets are $5, and can be purchased from any cast member, from Carbon County Music and More on Second Street in Lehighton, and can be put on hold by messaging Zion Opera Workshop Junior on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ZOWJunior.

This production is under the direction of Zion Opera Workshop veteran, Laura Cressley, joined by fellow ZOW veteran Adam Reichard as the stage director.

The cast for the show consists of more than 40 children, ranging from 7 to 14 years old, and since auditions held during the second weekend of March, the cast has been at work at least twice a week learning songs, dances and lines to bring the classic story of “the boy who never grew up” to life.

Based on the Disney film and J.M. Barrie’s play, “Peter Pan Junior” transports audiences to the Darling household, where Wendy (played by Jim Thorpe sixth-grader Allie Marciante) is busy telling stories to her younger brothers, John (fourth-grader Abigail Ehrig) and Michael (second-grader Estella Bongo).

When their parents (played by LAMS students Jared Oswald and Brielle Gosselin) tell Wendy that she must grow up and stop telling stories, the children are saddened, but they awake to a surprise when Peter Pan (played by Jim Thorpe sixth-grader, Lillian Heydt) stops by to find his shadow that their dog (and nursemaid), Nana, (played by fifth-grader Kate Newsted) stole from him the night before. Pan and Tinker Bell (played by fifth-grader Mylee Hauser) climb through the bedroom window and help the children fly to Neverland, where they will never have to grow up.

Upon their arrival in Neverland, the children find that Pan’s arch nemesis, Captain Hook, (Jared Oswald) his first mate, Smee, (Kate Newsted) and the rest of the pirate crew on the Jolly Roger, (consisting of Brielle Gosselin, Mary Kate McCormick, Daphne Gowin, Jezelle Stribula, Amanda Gowin, Maya Schweitzer, Ilana Schweitzer, Alfred Bravo, Tahlulah Bravo, and Gavin Hoffman) are trying to shoot cannons at Peter and the Darling children. Peter uses his quick wit and ability to fly to outsmart Hook and escape unharmed (with some help from the tick-tocking Crocodile, played by Emmalyse Vavra).

The children then encounter the “Lost Boys,” Peter’s friends, who came to Neverland after “falling out of their cribs” and are at constant war with the Indian Braves. Lost Boys are played by Claire Foeller (Cubby), Anne Gilsbach (Skunk), Sadie Strack (Hop), Lauren Sheckler (Fox) and Karina Wisocky and Kaia Mehnert (Raccoon Twins). Named Indian Braves are played by Olivia Erickson, Selene Stribula, and Colleen Gilsbach, with the role of Chief Tiger Bamboo being played by sixth-grader Liliana Nuzzo and the princess, Tiger Lily, being portrayed by fifth-grader Ava Bongo.

Rounding out the inhabitants of Neverland are Tinker Bell’s spunky fairy friends (played by Alli Foeller, Layla Bravo, Sarah Schlough, Susan Gilsbach, Briana Didea, Delaney Erickson, Nicole Kester, Madalyn Horning, and Natalia Brady) and the beautiful mermaids of Mermaid Lagoon (Vivian Zimmerman, Lilly Andreas, Gabrielle Hoffman and Maci DoVico).