This spring my 11 year-old
daughter Anna, attended an audition workshop for The Hobbit at the Wheelock
Family Theatre. She had a great time at the workshop and decided to try
out for the show. We didn’t know how many kids would be selected or how
many would be auditioning. We told her to enjoy the experience and wait
to see what would happen.
A few days later Anna received an
invitation to join the cast. The rehearsal schedule included with the
invitation was daunting - six days a week, with full day sessions on the final
weekend and long nights in the last week before Opening Night. Anna has
always been a conscientious student and readily agreed to our requirement that
all homework be completed before dinner on rehearsal nights.
Rehearsals started on October
first. It was a lot of hard work. As a parent the most impressive
thing to me was the way that everyone in the cast and crew treated the youngest
performers as peers while being mindful of the limits of their abilities and
stamina. Anna learned a lot working on her own scenes and listening intently
when the director, Shelley Bolman worked with the older kids and adult
performers many of whom are professional actors. Anna especially liked
working with Robin Liberty who was the Assistant Stage Manager. Susan
Lombardi-Verticelli was a warm and calming influence as the Stage Manager.
Anna was one of 20 boys and girls
cast as Hobbits and Spiders. They were split into two casts. They
were in the first scene of the show as hobbits and two other scenes as spiders.
Because of that it wasn’t necessary to attend all 6 rehearsals each week.
Also early in the process they were released at 8 or 9 PM while the rest
of the cast worked late into the night. Still in the last week the hours
and intensity increased. All of those hours together brought Anna and her
fellow spiders together as friends.
Opening night was thrilling. It was amazing to see the results of all of that hard work. I will never forget the look on Anna’s face during the curtain call. Her joy became my joy. We don’t know where Anna’s journey will take her as a performer, but I’m sure that this has been an experience she will carry with her for the rest of her life.
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