By Ken Mammarella

Contributing Writer

Middletown resident Jackson Hayes is well on his way to his goal of being a star. “I want to be a child star and an adult star,” said the 12-year-old performer, who describes himself on his Instagram as a “musical theater enthusiast who loves the stage, the camera, good lighting and his family.”

“I love Broadway, and I love musicals, and I still want to do those, but I also want to be in movies and TV shows,” Jackson, a sixth grader at the Cab Calloway School of the Arts, said in an interview.

Jackson began acting when he was 3, playing a Munchkin in a production of “The Wiz” at Howard High School in Wilmington, directed by his mother, Lori Hayes. He performed in several other productions in Delaware before being cast as Young Simba in the national touring company of “The Lion King” – which Forbes calls the “highest-grossing entertainment property in history” – and Little Michael in the Broadway production of “MJ,” the jukebox musical about legend Michael Jackson.

And while he was performing in the top tier of live theater across the United States, into Mexico and on Broadway, Jackson also found time and energy to start writing a show called “Night of Regret” – he’s writing it with Jaxyn Damasco, one of the performers cast as Young Nala in “The Lion King” – and creating a music video to say farewell to his nine months on the road with “The Lion King.”

“Before I left [the] tour, I wanted to do something special with my Cubs,” he wrote on Instagram about the performers who share the roles of Young Simba and Young Nala. “After watching a video by the [University of Michigan] theater department and seeing [‘Six’ on Broadway], I knew what I wanted to do. My mom challenged me to actually see it all the way through. That meant write the lyrics (except for the Cubs’ intro, which they wrote), find a place to shoot the video, meet with the owners to get permission, edit the video, hold rehearsals, decide on the costumes and not to quit.”

Family and faith

Jackson feels he acquired his performance skills from his mother, who has enough flexibility in her career as an educational consultant to accompany him to 11 cities across North America for “The Lion King” and live in Greater New York while performing on Broadway. His contract runs through June 9.

“I have stage presence” when offstage, he said in the interview. “I’m just a dramatic person. Last night, I put on the spotlight, turned off all the lights in the house, and I put on karaoke on the TV.”

Jackson also credits his commitment to God. “Most of the artists I like started in church, and so did I,” he wrote on Instagram. In another post, he combined faith and family. “Last night I did something that I prayed for. I got to perform with my cousin [Lauren Carr], who is the newest member of ‘The Lion King’ family. I mean for real how many people can say they did that?!?”

He emphasized that point several times in the interview. “You’re on the right path,” God has told him. “Don’t fall off. Keep going.” And: “If you work with God, He is always going to find a way for you to succeed.”

“We’re people of faith, so we just pray,” Lori said. The family – dad Clifton, an administrator with the New Castle County Vocational Technical School District; Lori; Jackson; and his two brothers – attend the nondenominational Seeds of Greatness church in Middletown.

“His dream is, again, to be on TV soon,” she said. “He really wants to have his own series. His ultimate dream is that he and Jaxyn, his best friend from ‘The Lion King,’ want to stage their own production in New York.”

On stage and off

Complex arrangements and laws govern how minors perform in Equity productions and on Broadway. They’re why in both musicals he shares the part, and he posts his schedule on Instagram. Search for “justJacksonHayes,” an account set up when he started with “The Lion King.”

He likes acting because “you can break away from your own life and expand someone else’s and see how their story comes out. Young Simba was very dramatic and brave, which I can connect to. A different thing is how he ran away.” And that he can’t connect to, even though he recalled once starting a half-hearted runaway to the Chick-fil-A across the street from his old house.

The tour gave Jackson and Lori the chance to explore other places. “Whenever we get to a city, we ask the locals for places we should visit,” Jackson wrote on Instagram. “In Tulsa, we were told to visit the Center of the Universe. You stand in the center, and it sounds like you are singing in a microphone. Not sure how it works, but it was fun.” The cast also toured the White House together.

Some spots echoed the show. “Went to the zoo, and everywhere I looked I saw a stage,” he wrote last spring. “I mean, who can walk past the lion cage and not sing ‘I Just Can’t Wait to Be King?’”

Others were the show. “I just had to go to the Animal Kingdom to see the Festival of the Lion King,” he wrote last fall, after visiting Disney World. “You know when they asked for a volunteer, my hand went straight up. There’s just something about ‘The Lion King.’ The safari was cool.” And so were the “amazing” Tron ride and the churros, he added in the interview.

Growth is the most important

Kerry Lacy Stöwhas, hair and makeup supervisor for “The Lion King” tour, gave Jackson important advice about developing skills while on tour. That included learning how to sew, from cast member Christopher McKenzie, and absorbing advice from Lori. “My mom always has a lesson,” he wrote on Instagram. “She said ‘Who you are on the stage matters, but who you are off stage matters most.’ ”

Last summer, when “The Lion King” tour hit Washington, he contemplated that growth on Instagram: “Full circle moment. When I was 8, I was supposed to perform MJ for my pastor’s celebration, but I got scared in front of the 1,200+ people in the audience. My pastor [Jerome L. Lewis] and [his wife, Lisa P. Lewis,] hugged me that day and made me feel better.

“I decided that day that I would never be afraid to perform. My church didn’t hold that performance against me. Instead they gave me more chances to work on my gift and encouraged me to do what I love.

“Fast forward to last night and I had the chance to perform in front of them and 1,000s of others at the historic Kennedy Center in the #1 musical in the world with no fear.

“I used to be embarrassed about what happened, but my mom told me to take my power back.

“This was my full circle Simba moment. I know who I am, and I’m just getting started.”