14 THE BEST OF MONTEREY BAY® FAMILY 2026-2027 It’s 4pm in sunny downtown Salinas and 12-year-old Stella Del Real is walking down Main Street, escorted by her mother, Jamie. She just finished school for the day, but is ready for two hours of rehearsals, a few times each week, at ARIEL Theatrical, where for the last 25 years, local children have been acting in shows for others their age, and where Stella has been thriving for the last three years. “This is where my friends are,” she says. “I enjoy singing and having fun with all the nice people there.” She adds that when she started, she didn’t know about the “message”—the fact that ARIEL is not just about acting, but about developing various qualities of character. This is what hooked her, from her first show, The Chronicles of Narnia, when she was 9, through Frozen Jr., where she played young Elsa, Pinocchio (she had the main role at age 10), and now The Emperor’s New Clothes, where she will play one of the spies. This year marks a quarter of a decade since ARIEL has been operating in the Karen Wilson Children’s Theatre on Main Street in Oldtown Salinas. But this story goes much further in time. It all started at Gail Higginbotham’s kitchen table. In the early ’80s, this mother of five children discovered that if she wanted her kids to see a children’s show, she had to go to San Jose or San Francisco. Then she was asked by her church to put on a production of Peter Pan; soon the show was picked up by the Alisal Union School District and migrated to Sherwood Hall. This is how ARIEL Theatrical was born. “We were just moms, trying BALANCING ACT ARIEL Theatrical teaches practical skills for young people, both on and off the stage. By Agata Popęda DANIEL DREIFUSS ARIEL THEATRICAL ARCHIVES Above: Stella Del Real is a veteran of the ARIEL Theatrical stage, having performed in shows for the past three years. Below: A show put on by the nonprofit.
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