Plenty of people enjoy time in the limelight.

The Penguin Project gives young entertainers an opportunity, no matter what their perceived limitations.

A national initiative hosted locally by Mon River Arts, the Penguin Project pairs individuals ages 10 to 21 who have developmental disabilities with peer mentors.

“We have participants who are in wheelchairs. We have participants who are nonverbal. We have participants who are blind,” Candice Damiani, Mon River Arts board president, said. “That’s why we partner you with someone, to make sure that you can shine onstage no matter what difficulty you might have.”

The Baldwin Borough resident attended the Feb. 16 “Shrekfest: Breakfast with the Shrek Cast” at Thomas Jefferson High School, held in advance of the March production of “Shrek the Musical.” Proceeds from the event benefit her group’s chapter of the Penguin Project.

“The program is completely free for every participants,” she said. “We don’t want any barriers for theater.”

A Peoria, Ill., developmental pediatrician launched the project in 2004.

“The reason the penguin was chosen is because penguins are birds, but they can’t fly,” Damiani said. “So the penguin represents the fact that our artists need a little bit of extra support. They can’t fly on their own, but if they have support, they can soar.”

Mentors usually are “theater kids,” as she calls them, including Hannah Damiani, her daughter. A senior at Baldwin High School, where she is president of the Tri-M Music Honors Society, Hannah spoke to guests about the Penguin Project during Shrekfest.

“I’ve done theater from a really young age, and it kind of changed my perspective in a lot of ways. Instead of being the star of the show, I was kind of helping more backstage,” she said. “It was really a great way to make some new friends and look at theater through a different light. It has really changed my life, so I would encourage all of you to do it.”

Elizabeth Forward High School senior Abbi Ross talked about mentoring a young performer for the past two years.

“Building that bond with her has just really changed how I view theater and what I can bring into someone else’s life,” Abbi said. “It’s been a good experience, and I hope everyone comes out to see our show.”

Penguin Project rehearsals start in June and run through September at the Mon River Arts studio, 206 Plum St., Elizabeth Borough.

“Then we’ll do four performances of a show I can’t tell you yet,” Candice Damiani said, until the rights have been secured.

In October, the troupe performed “Peter Pan JR.,” one of many examples of Music Theater International’s “kid-sized versions of the world’s best musicals.”

“We do a full ‘junior’ production,” Damiani said. “We don’t take anything out. We do full costumes. We do full props. We do full sets, just like any other production that gets done in the area.”

As she told Shrekfest guests, new student mentors always are welcome.

“It will change who you are fundamentally, because you will truly see something that you’ve never seen and you’ve never experienced before,” she said. “It will take all that ‘I need to be the star,’ and it will put it to the back, because you will recognize that there’s more value in helping somebody else be the star than for you to be in the spotlight.

“And I know that’s hard for ‘theater kids,’ but I promise you that’s how it works.”

For more information, visit monriverarts.org.

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