Hey all!

Boy, I haven't posted an MTA blog in a looooooong time...it's good to be back! Hahah, well a lot has happened since I last wrote on this site (which I'm assuming was about a year ago)...just in case you're curious, I scored two leading roles since playing Agwe in "Once on this Island". Over the summer I played Mrs. Lovett in a teen edition of Sondheim's dark comedy "Sweeney Todd". What an experience! Being one of the youngest in the cast, I was very intimidated at first, but I ended up learning so much. The show was spectacular! I was also cast as Dorothy in my school's production of "The Wizard of Oz". Simply put, it was a dream role. I remember being three years old and watching the movie and dreaming about playing the little Kansas girl everyone knows and loves. Once again, spectacular show, spectacular cast, couldn't have asked for anything more!

I'm currently rehearsing two shows: "Charlotte's Web", my school play in which I play a narrator, and "A Chorus Line", with my theater troupe in which I play Diana. In this post I'll be talking more about the latter, because even though this is my last middle school production and it's coming up in two weeks, I am so excited to be playing a role I've been wanting for a few years now. When I first auditioned for this theater company, I watched a girl sing the song "Nothing" for her audition. I thought it was a very cute piece, so I looked up more information about "Chorus Line" and fell in love!

Never, even in my wildest dreams, would I ever have expected to get this opportunity. The audition process went by so quickly, I didn't even believe it when I found out I had gotten the part. In all honesty, I knew my acting had been the best for the character of Diana, but I wasn't sure how I compared to the other girls vocally. Four other kids from my school are in this less-explicit version of the show, and they also scored great parts: Cassie, Sheila, Val, and Al. Oh, before I go on...I should probably explain that the characters have been slightly altered so that there are more girl roles than male roles. In our version, for example, Al is the one who injures himself (the character of "Paul" doesn't even exist in our adaptation!) and a character named Lois, who is cut in the first round in the original show, sings "What I Did For Love" (what a shame for me...this is one of my favorite songs in the show!).

As far as group numbers go, we've finished blocking the opening and "Sing!" Some of the small solos have also been worked on, but most of the big stuff has yet to be choreographed. I cannot wait until we block "Nothing"! I already have many ideas about my character, so I'm writing them all down in a notebook (I try to do this for every show I'm in, and it helps a lot!). During our next rehearsal this Saturday, we're going to block "And..." and "Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen" (which has been SEVERELY altered due to its...ehhmm...innapropriate content). I can't wait!