Jackson Bengtson, 10, a 5th grade student at Springs’ Magnolia Student Center in Riverside, is a budding young actor. He likes to sing and dance before live audiences.
His stage performances began with an Inland Regional Youth Theatre production of Beauty and the Beast in 2016. He has since performed in productions of The Wizard of Oz, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Bye Bye Birdie. He’s also been in two shows with the afterschool program Star Quest at Encore Junior/Senior High School for the Arts in Riverside, which teaches elementary school children how to sing and dance.
Before his performances, he must practice three times a week for three months. It can be hard work, he said, as “we learn a lot of songs and sometimes I have lines to memorize. But it is all fun.”
Attending Magnolia Student Center not only gives him the opportunity to pursue his acting, but also “get a good education [at] a better school” than he had previously attended. He remarked, “It is going really good. I really like it.”
He plans to continue with acting as he grows up, and wants to go to a performing arts college. Outside of school and acting, he likes to play goalie in soccer games.
