A sign was set up at Reed Intermediate School on Thursday, May 14, welcoming Broadway and movie actress Lilla Crawford and Tony Award-winning producer Van Dean to the Trades Lane school.

Mr Dean, who is also executive producer and co-founder of Broadway Records, said he arranged the meeting after learning that Reed students were then preparing to perform Annie Jr, and to continue his efforts of supporting students in the community following the events of 12/14.

Before Lilla — who is a 14-year-old singer, dancer, and actress who most recently performed in Disney’s Into the Woods as Little Red Riding Hood — was introduced to Reed’s Annie Jr cast members, the students rehearsed songs from their recent production. As Lilla walked in, the Reed students were singing “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow.”

Lilla, who starred in the 2012 Broadway production of Annie, smiled and seemed right at home with the song and the students singing for her.

Lilla went on to perform “I Know Things Now” from Into The Woods for the students. She also answered an array of questions before she sang songs from Annie with the Reed students.

She talked about her work for the recent film, telling the students that rehearsals for Into The Woods took one month, and filming for the production lasted roughly three months. Students also wanted to know how the set for the movie looked so “magical” and whether she made new friends while filming the movie. While Lilla mostly left the “movie magic” up to the students’ imaginations, she also shared that some of her best friends from the movie were stunt doubles for the actors.

Her favorite scene from Into The Woods, she said when asked, was when the characters all see the giant for the first time.

“I am very lucky and I can say I have done things, but it didn’t happen right away,” Lilla told the students about her career, after explaining that she began her career at the age of 6.

Lilla told the students that getting to where she is now took “a lot of practice.”

The students also asked Mr Dean a number of questions. When music teacher Michelle Tenenbaum asked the students to raise their hands to show if they had participated in past 12.14 Foundation productions, which Mr Dean has co-produced, nearly half the room had their arms fully raised.

When she asked how many of the students plan to participate in the 12.14 Foundation’s planned productions for this summer, more arms reached up.