O'Connor Catholic School will put on a production of Annie.

Dance captain and actor Hamish McPhie rushes madly across the set, directing children and organising the set with little more than a flick of his wrist.

A member of the affiliate cast, Hamish studied dance as part of his High School Certificate at O’Connor and has returned to share his talents with the younger students.

“The whole idea was to bring a bit of maturity and to bring that experience that we all have solely because we’re all hugely involved in the arts and theatre,” Hamish said.

The story follows a fiery red-headed young orphan name Annie in the 1930’s in an orphanage run by the dictatorial Ms Hannigan.

Life starts to look up when Annie is invited to spend some time at the mansion of millionaire Oliver Warbucks.

The staff are charmed and Annie has almost won over Warbucks when Miss Haninigan, Rooster and Lily St Regis steal Annie away and put her life in danger.

Cast as Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks, Hamish has been involved in everything from choreography to the audition process.

Hamish said it was important to the director, Melissa Killen, and the rest of the affiliate cast to involve all interested children in some small way.

“It’s such a tough process to audition kids, and they are kids, we never want to deter anyone from their passion,” he said.

“It was all about encouraging kids to keep trying and even if they didn’t make it into the show it’s a matter of what they can do now.”

O’Connor Catholic College students are involved in art classes to paint the sets, industrial technology to build the large set structures, costuming and makeup.

“It was important to really have the whole O’Connor community involved,” Hamish said.

Hamish plans to audition for an arts school next year.

“We’re all pursuing careers in the arts and this is really where our hearts are.” he said.

Annie will take place on October 27 to 29 at the TAS Hoskins Centre.

Tickets are available at oconnor.nsw.edu.au