CLAYTON DOWDELL
Clayton Dowdell will be making a mad dash after he and his band, Clayton and the Kracken, open the Port Moody Youth Arts Festival at 6 p.m. on Thursday.
That's because the 16-year-old Gleneagle secondary student is in another production that night - and every night during the four-day festival.
Dowdell is cast in two roles for Theatrix's Legally Blonde at the Evergreen Cultural Centre, a 10-minute car ride away from Port Moody city hall.
"Luckily, I'm not in the first few scenes," Dowdell said of the comedy.
But being busy is typical for him. The Grade 11 student is musically gifted: He plays the clarinet, trumpet, drums and guitar and, last year, was in the school's concert band, concert choir and vocal jazz program. Last year, he and his bandmates - including two from PoMo's Heritage Woods secondary - also formed "because we thought it would be cool to play our own style and music and put cool things into the world."
Since then, the band has played Gleneagle's Me To We fundraiser and the Port Coquitlam Farmers Market but the Port Moody Youth Arts Festival will be a big set for them as they cover songs from Said the Whale and We are the City.
"I think it's a great opportunity to get to be a main act and to get your voice out there," Dowdell said, adding, "A lot of festivals are geared to established acts only and that doesn't give new and young artists a chance to get recognized."
