MILWAUKEE — There’s always a good somewhere.
That’s the message behind “The Amazing Lemonade Girl,” playing at the Marcus Center for Performing Arts through May 15.
First Stage, "a Milwaukee-based youth theater and training program," is currently showing “The Amazing Lemonade Girl.” It’s a world premiere, written by Wisconsinite James DeVita. The story, which follows a little girl named Alex Scott, is based on a true story.
Scott was just a baby when doctors diagnosed her with neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer. Scott doesn’t remember not being sick, she tells her newfound friends in the play.
Scott’s doctors told her parents they didn’t think she’d be able to walk after her first surgery. Just a few weeks later, Scott kicked her legs and eventually walked around like any other kid.
“This was the first indication of who she would turn out to be — a determined, courageous, confident and inspiring child with big dreams and big accomplishments,” Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation said.
When she was 4-years-old, Scott begged her parents for a lemonade stand in their front yard. She raised more than $2,000. She wanted to donate the money to doctors and childhood cancer researchers so they could “help other kids like they helped me.”
Scott’s family decided to hold a lemonade stand annually, but they weren’t alone. Scott’s story spread, and eventually, every state, and even other countries, were holding their own lemonade stands to raise money for childhood cancer.
By the time she was 8-years-old, Scott raised $1,000,000, just one cup at a time. She died shortly after hitting the million-dollar milestone in 2004.
But her story continued on: Her family started Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, which continues to raise money for childhood cancer research to this day. They’ve helped save hundreds, if not thousands, of kids just like Scott. Plus, they provide support for families of kids with cancer.
In the play, Scott gets to see her legacy live well past her short life.
“(My favorite thing about Alex’s story is) how one single person can affect so many other people. Hundreds of people wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for Alex. It’s amazing,” Pietja Dusek, who plays Scott in “The Amazing Lemonade Girl,” said.
“I have learned that it only takes one person, such as you or me, to make thousands of peoples lives better with a lot of persistence and tenaciousness, just like Alex. I’ve also learned that choosing to face a serious challenge such as cancer with an attitude to help others, and make the world better for others benefit, is important,” she added.
“The Amazing Lemonade Girl,” which makes a hard topic like cancer approachable to kids, features two casts: The purple and blue casts, Scott’s favorite colors.
Dusek, who is in 6th grade at Pilgrim Park Middle School plays Scott in Blue Cast, said working on this play changed her outlook on what it means to make a difference, have cancer and so much more.
“It has impacted me as I hope it impacts others,” she said. “Alex has inspired me to do what I can to make a difference and helped me better understand what other individuals could be going through with cancer. She truly shows that bravery, kindness and love and persistence, can affect so many others.”
Maia Scherman, who is a 7th grader at University School of Milwaukee, takes on the role in the Purple Cast.
“My favorite part about Alex is her optimism in every situation the world throws at her. No matter what happens, Alex can find a way to push through it and find the good in anything,” Scherman said.
Scott’s positive outlook is strung throughout the entirety of the play. As she tells her story to her friends, they easily get sucked in to the negative and sad parts of her life. But she’s quick to remind them “there’s always a good somewhere, you just have to look a little harder sometimes.”
”All of that is me — the happy and the sad. The good and the bad. That is my story,” she tells them.
“She always had hope, and she never stopped believing in herself. She instilled hope in all of her community, and far beyond that to help find cures for cancer,” Scherman said. “I want kids to believe that if you can put your mind to something, you can make it happen.”
After all, that’s what Scott did, asking the money she raised to go to various cancer researchers, too — not just the ones who would be helping her.
“You can create something so big from something so small, a lemonade stand for fifty cents a cup turned into this huge Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. In spite of all the hard things and difficulties she was going through, she pushed forward unselfishly to help other kids, and cure their cancers,” Scherman said.
For more information on the 70-minute show, click here.
For more information on Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, click here.
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