Now that Ellie Massey has been the executive and artistic director of the Meridian Little Theatre for about six months, she’s in a spot where she can reflect on her work so far.

One area of focus has been youth theater, or CenterStage.

“I decided that we probably could use an upgrade,” Massey said.

CenterStage is currently at work preparing “Madagascar — A Musical Adventure Jr.,” an ambitious musical that Massey said is part of a larger effort to bolster youth theater.

“That was one of the biggest projects I wanted to accomplish — to step up the CenterStage program and make it more on a par with what we do on the main stage,” she said.

Massey also mentioned other goals she’s been pursuing, specifically in the realm of the musical.

“It sounds rather simplistic, but when you’re doing a musical, you have to focus on the music,” she said. “And a lot of times in our audition process (in years past), we didn’t get the vocal talent we needed.”

Lately, she said, “outstanding talent” has emerged for musicals, and she noted talented turnouts for “9 to 5” and, most recently, for “Shrek the Musical.” But she also stressed the need to work intensively on the music once the cast is in place.

“You pick out the best voices and you make them fit into a part, somewhere,” said Massey, who praised the work of Apryl Sharp, the music director for “Shrek.”

“She was a magician,” Massey said.

Massey also reflected on ways she works to draw authentic emotions from performers as they act. She said she tries to create settings that will elicit natural — and sometimes painful — human reactions.

“Even a musical comedy has moments where it becomes about real life,” she said. “There’s a moment when Shrek decided that he didn’t need friends, that he was better off on his own. That’s a moment that I wanted people to stop and think about.”

So Massey said she worked to set that moment up physically, creating the framework that would allow emotions to take over.

“When you stop and you stare into somebody’s eyes, and they’ve just told you to go away … there’s something physically that happens, and there’s something emotionally that happens,” she said.

So, she explained, she encourages the actor receiving such information to wait, to let it sink in, and to let the ordinary stream of physical and emotional reaction to flow through them.

Massey said the selection process for each year’s plays — which includes two musicals and two non-musicals — travels through a path of several steps. Members of the board of directors, she said, work with a list of possible titles and then narrow that list to four musicals and four non-musicals. Then, the audience members vote for the next season’s selections — and they cast their votes throughout the performances of the current season’s final play.

In addition to the four main plays, Massey said, there’s a youth play and a dinner-theater play.

As Massey explained the process, she contemplated the sorts of plays that tend to make it onto the stage in Meridian.

“Our audiences love musicals, and they love comedies,” she said. “We try to bring them what they want because we’re a community theater … But there is that director in me, that artist in me, that wants to do ‘The Iceman Cometh’ (by Eugene O’Neill), or something really challenging emotionally and dramatically. I have a feeling that they would enjoy it, but I don’t know that they would buy the tickets.”

Massey said she and others have discussed the possibility of developing a “senior theater,” that might create the forum for plays rich with dialogue — and plays that might feature older characters.

But for now, she’s looking toward the next production, “A Christmas Story,” with auditions slated for 6:30 p.m. on Monday.

Oktoberfest At MLT

Members of the Meridian Little Theatre are preparing for this year’s Oktoberfest, slated for 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Meridian Little Theatre Ballroom. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door.

The event is a fundraiser for the Meridian Little Theatre.

Ellie Massey, executive/artistic director of the Meridian Little Theatre, said the event will include the “best dishes” from seven area restaurants, along with selections of craft beer paired with those entrées. She also noted a silent auction for items, donated by the community, that include a sprawling variety of services, recreation and works of art.

Stacey Hutcheson, office manager for the Meridian Little Theatre, emphasized the enthusiasm surrounding the festival.

“We just want to make this a continuing event, year after year,” Hutcheson said.

The festival will include musical performance by Aa’Keela & The Beats.

People seeking more information can call 601-482-6371.