A Brandywine elementary school student is proving it is never too early to get a start on stage.

Nine-year-old Bailey Roeder is playing the important role of Dill in the Twin City Player’s performance of “To Kill a Mockingbird” this weekend.

The Christopher Sergel play is based on the classic book of the same name written by Harper Lee.

As Dill, Roeder plays a good friend of Scout and Jem Finch and has a considerably large role.

He appears in several scenes and has many lines — all of which he had to learn in about three weeks time because he took the role on late.

The Brandywine Elementary School third-grader said he was able to get ready thanks in part to his experience in the recent musical, “The Jungle Book Kids,” at Brandywine Elementary School.

He played Kaa the snake in the musical.

“I think that helped with the memorizing part and staying in character,” he said. “It (acting) is fun. It is nice to pretend.”

The play has another Brandywine tie in director August Garritano, who graduated from Brandywine High School in 2008.

Garritano also directed “Jungle Book Kids” at Brandywine and is one of the founders of The Performing Arts Workshops, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts in children and young adults.

Performances of “To Kill a Mockingbird” are scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Twin City Players Playhouse, which is located at 600 W. Glenlord Road in St. Joseph.

Tickets can be purchased online at twincityplayers.org or by calling the box office at (269) 429-0400.

Cost is $15 for adults and $12 for seniors.