A group of Flagler Palm Coast High School students is working to establish theater arts clubs in each of the county's elementary schools.

PALM COAST — Applause fills the cafeteria at Wadsworth Elementary where a group of “orphans” on stage belt out the final notes of the crowd-pleasing number “It’s A Hard-Knock Life” from “Annie.”

It’s the first full run-through for the cast, complete with sets and costumes. The test audience is mostly younger children who happen to be on site.

If their reaction is an indication, the show will be a success.

The Broadway musical based on the popular comic strip “Little Orphan Annie” will make its Wadsworth debut Wednesday. The cast includes students in grades four, five and six.

It follows past student productions “Cinderella,” “Aladdin” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” which have made Wadsworth a kind of mecca for the county’s youngest thespians.

But the school may soon have to share that designation if a project by five local teens is successful.

The effort to bring theater to all of the elementary schools in the district is a goal of “Annie” director Gerald Kitt, a Flagler Palm Coast High School senior.

“I started this project when I was a freshman, and basically it’s grown unto what we call Project PIT — Performers In Training,” he said.

Gerald has performed in numerous high school and community theater productions. He has helped young performers at Buddy Taylor Middle School prepare for the annual Florida Junior Thespians competition. He also directed Wadsworth’s three previous productions.

Having discovered theater arts in middle school, Gerald began to gather like-minded students upon entering the ninth grade. Someone suggested his troupe turn the effort into a Community Problem Solvers project — and Project PIT was born.

Community Problem Solvers is a class that gives students an opportunity to address needs in their communities. In this case, project members saw a need to give more students the creative outlet that theater arts can offer.

“If I’d had this when I was younger, I think I would be an even different person than I am now,” Gerald said.

While young performers are having fun acting, singing and dancing, they are also learning important lifelong skills.

“It really will be beneficial for them in the future,” said Project PIT member Elana Sobhani, “because no matter what job you have or what things you have to do in your life, it’s really important to be able to get up in front of people and speak and also to be able to express yourself.”

Indeed, fifth grader Giulianna Gutierrez, who plays one of the orphans, seemed to already appreciate that aspect of the experience. She said she was in the play to get over her fear.

Judging from her confident performance as Molly, she has accomplished that.

In addition to Gerald and Sobhani, members of Project PIT include Austin Branning, Sarah Dance and Samantha Shumaker.

Sarah added that theater teaches performers how to work with others. And her own theatrical experience taught her another valuable life lesson: “You don’t always get the part you want.”

Each of the Project PIT members said that they, too, have learned from their efforts.

For Samantha, that lesson was the value of motivation. For Sarah and Elana, it was patience.

“I learned that I genuinely love working with kids,” said Austin. “There’s something about the passion you see in their eyes and how excited they are to come to rehearsal every day and have fun with it. It’s such a joy to see. It’s the coolest thing in the world to see someone grow right in front of your eyes.”

”The teamwork that we as a group and the kids learn throughout this program is amazing,” said Elana, “because teamwork is required for anything that you do; you have to be able to work well with others. And you have to be able to produce something with others that is up to par with what you’re aiming for. The fact that these kids work together so well to produce these shows and that we work together so well to help them is amazing. It’s a great experience, and it’s a great learning tool for the future.”

The students have approached principals at the county’s other elementary schools about launching theater clubs there. If given the approval, they will next need to find teachers willing to stay after school to supervise.

While Wadsworth is able to present full productions, clubs at the other schools will start with more modest goals and build from there.

Gerald has received validation of his efforts from former cast members of “Cinderella,” which he directed three years ago. Now freshmen, they have approached him at FPC and thanked him for his influence in their younger lives.

“They’re like, ‘I’m a different person. I can actually speak out. I’m not scared to say things. I’m not scared to go in front of the class and talk anymore,’” he said.

“And those are skills that you need every single day of your life.”