While I was in a show, I got a call from a company member from The Hypocrites theatre company asking me to be in their show. The Hypocrites is a theatre company that performs productions in different locations, they do not have a set theatre space as their home. The show was Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, by Tennessee Williams. I was 10 years old and I was preparing to go to Europe the following summer, I didn't really want to be a long running show.
Choosing in be in "Cat," as we called it, was one of the best experiences of my life. The cast consisted of twelve adults that were heavily involved in the Chicago theatre scene. In addition to the adults, were the kids. There were three main kids that performed in all 45 show, Isabella the Indian, Matt the Robot, and Ava the Fairy Princess.The rest of the five kids switched out between them each night. Every show there were five kids playing the Pollitt children.
The show ran for almost two months in the dead of the Chicago winter. We had to walk around the building in negative degree temperatures to use the bathroom in our gorgeous costumes, that were state of the art. I loved putting on my pink dress and my fairy wings at the start of every shoe. I had dainty pink shoes with a slight pink heel.
The cold weather was definitely worth it when we found out we were Jeff Recommended. That is one of the best honors a professional show can receive in Chicago. In the show, the people who played my parents were really amazing. They were so kind to all of the kids in the show and we felt like a real family. During a show, we really got close with the entire cast and crew, so it was really hard to say goodbye at the end.
Fast forward a couple of years and I am in eighth grade at an audition for a show called Over the Tavern. Since the Chicago theatre family is pretty small, I knew most of the actresses who were going against me for parts and we were at the audition together. My first audition went great, so I got a callback.
At the callback, the director was matching the different families up to see who would fit together. I was sitting in the lobby and the woman sitting next to me, who was called back to play my mom, played my mom in Cat! The theatre community truly is a small world. She was encouraging me and telling me that I would get the part! I read with her several times because there was a huge scene between the mother and the daughter.
It was only me verses another girl, who was older, and she ended up getting the part, a 16 year old girl. My old stage mom was now her new stage mom. I was lucky to get cast as her understudy with an entire understudy family, all with blonde hair. We all had read together at the callback, so I knew they were matching up families from the beginning.
During rehearsals, we had to be ready to step into the main roles at any moment. Our understudy family had our own rehearsals and got to learn the lines together. We became so close as a family, on stage and off.
Each week the understudy cast had to go see a show and we got to hangout with the rest of the cast and crew. I got really close with the lighting person and the people involved backstage. We always supported each other and loved seeing each other's guaranteed show.
My family in the show grew together and succeeded together. I will always be fortunate for my perfect understudy family.