;)
December 1st, 2014
I'm an actress now, don't you know?
Don't laugh, I am!
My teenage daughter, Aleigha, expressed a great interest in theatre and decided she wanted to try out for Towngate Theatre's A Christmas Carol.
On the evening of tryouts, I could see she was a little nervous and understandably so. We had no idea what to expect, as there was no preparation involved. They handed out scripts and assigned parts to "read," in order to give them a general idea of your skills.
On the way in, she said, "Mamma, would you try out with me?" And, I thought, "Oh sure, why not?" I turned and looked at my husband and said, "Are you going to try too?" "Well, why not," he said. So there we were - full support for our daughter. We wanted her to take the plunge and explore her interests, so of course we would do whatever we needed to nurture those interests.
The Director, Tim Thompson, and the writer, Jeremy Richter, were absolutely marvelous. This must have been one of the largest casting calls and it was only day one of the tryouts. They were so kind and encouraging to every person who came in. It didn't matter if you were well-versed in theater or a newcomer. Age and sex did not matter. All were welcome and all were given a chance.
About two weeks later, the casting list came out. Much to our surprise, we all landed parts! And what fun it has been from there.
We have learned so much over the past couple of weeks. We have learned some dancing and we have been working on our "English" accents, which aren't as easy as you might expect.
Aleigha is one of the Fezziwig daughters, as well as one of the daughters of Belle, you know the one who used to be engaged to old man, Mr. Scrooge? Yep, that's me, the present day Belle, and my husband is played by my husband. We also partake in some dancing as well.
I never knew that so much went into putting on a performance like this. It has been an awesome experience to see all the hard work coming together and to watch adults and children evolve into their roles. It is going to be a magnificent show and I assure you it won't be the last show we do.
On another note, I can't thank my little Aleigha enough for opening my eyes to show me to believe that I can still do many things that I've never tried before.
My sincere thanks and appreciation to Tim Thompson and Jeremy Richter for all the support, encouragement and commitment you have provided to everyone in the cast. I've observed firsthand what you have put into this and I've watched people learn so much from you. It has been an invaluable experience.
So, if you are looking for some good old fashioned holiday wholesome family fun, please come out and see the show! The show times are December 5 and 6 at 8 p.m.; December 7 at 3 p.m. and the last two shows are December 12 and 13, both at 8 p.m. Towngate Theater is located in Wheeling's Centre Market at 2118 Market Street.
Hope to see you there! Merry Christmas and ---God bless us, everyone!!
-Erin Dodd
