A Disney classic, “The Little Mermaid,” will be center stage in Redmond this November. Ovation Performing Arts is putting on the production. The non-profit primarily serves homeschooled families and describes itself as a Christian-based organization. Jonathan Shepherd and his wife have run OPA for the past decade, developing young actors from around Central Oregon. For the production of “Little Mermaid,” actors are coming from Redmond, Bend, Sunriver, La Pine, Tumalo, Terrebonne, Madras and Prineville.
Shepherd says all of its productions are family-friendly. “Our tongue-in-cheek slogan here is ‘no cursing, no kissing, no killing.’ We emphasize our actors’ personal boundaries over our characters’ expectations laid out in the scripts,” he explains.
“The Little Mermaid” takes the audience under the sea with the story of Ariel, who swims to the surface at age 15 and falls in love with a human prince. She desperately tries to leave the sea to be with the prince and makes a deal with the sea witch to have human legs in exchange for her voice. The deal is not what it seems, and Ariel needs the help of her friends to restore order under the sea and find a way to live happily ever after with the prince. The story is based on the classic fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen and the animated Disney film.
OPA’s production is a parent and community collaboration who help with custom sets, choreography and costumes. The cast features nearly 60 actors, ages eight to 14. While OPA is traditionally a homeschool theater group, several young actors are from public and private schools. Most rehearsals are done during the day, making it challenging for non-homeschooled participants, but Shepherd says they’ve shifted shows for older performers to the evenings to make it easier for public or private school teens and college students with day jobs to participate.
OPA produces musicals for four staggered age groups: Debut (8-12), Forte (8-14), Brava (13-18) and Encore (15-adult). The “Little Mermaid” is being performed by the Forte group. Shepherd says the overlap allows some actors to age up or down if siblings are involved. Each age group gets one performance a year, which allows OPA to feature different ages in lead roles.
“The age division structure is a newly implemented effort just this year in order to add more shows and provide more opportunities,” Janet Grant, who helps with publicity, told the Source. “We went from two shows a year to four.”
“The differing age groups have allowed us to stay with our ‘no cut’ policy,” Shepherd says. “Selecting our shows is tricky… We promise our families that just by signing up for a show, their actor’s participation in rehearsals and onstage will be high. This is a hard promise to live up to.” He explains that there’s usually a 1:2 boy/girl ratio, so finding musicals with enough roles for girls can be tricky. The “Little Mermaid” works nicely because Ariel has six sisters and other roles that can be male or female, like the crab Sebastian or Scuttle the seabird.
Part of OPA’s goal is to develop a young actor, teaching them acting theory and building confidence. “They sometimes write up backstories for their characters,” Shepherd explains, “and time permitting, we love to deep dive into the details, thinking about how their character would react or move, the cadence of their voices, as they express their emotions. We’ve always got our eye on life skills that apply outside of theatre: self-confidence, presence and gravitas in a room, public speaking, thinking outside the box.”
OPA is a faith-based program. Shepherd says there is usually prayer before an audition and sometimes during rehearsals, but there’s no expectation beyond respectfulness.
“We also overtly encourage cooperative, collaborative character qualities from a Biblical foundation: showing support and kindness even in the ‘competition’ of auditions, helping others, handling adversity with grace. These are qualities most people want for their kids whether they participate in religion or not,” Shepherd explains. “We have kids from all different denominations of churches as well as those who do not attend church. We do not require anyone to be a Christian to be involved. We just want to provide a wholesome environment where kids can come together and do what they love.”
OPA performances move around to different high school stages. “Little Mermaid” will be at Redmond High School, which Shepherd says is their first time there. The musicians are adults who play with various ensembles in Central Oregon. Rehearsals are at the OPA studio on Clausen Road on the north side of Bend. It’ll be performed over the second and third weekends in November. Rehearsals are already underway for its next production, “Prince of Egypt,” which will be performed at Ridgeview High School by OPA’s Encore division featuring actors 15 years and older. Show dates will be in January.
Little Mermaid
Nov. 7-9, 14-16
Redmond High School
675 SW Rimrock Way, Redmond
ovationpa.com/
$14 individual/$48 family four-pack
This article appears in the Source October 30, 2025.
MAKE LOCAL JOURNALISM HAPPEN
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
