Princess Jasmine for Creating Arts!

On Halloween a few of our amazing Creating Arts Members got together for a quick rehearsal as we put together a Children's Outreach Show we were performing in just hours later at the UCLA Housing in West LA.  There were over 100 people who brought their kids to see our show and meet us before going out Trick or Treating!

With some Pirates...arrrrgh!

I was playing Princess Jasmine as it's been dream to play her since I joined the Company.  My friend from High School, Sean Sagal, used to always call me Jasmine from "Aladdin" because I reminded him of the Disney Princess.  He was one of the few boys I went to school with that was nice to me, never made fun of me, or made me feel bad about myself.  I didn't have a date for my Junior Prom so I went with a group of girls but he asked me to dance, and we danced to 'Wonderful Tonight.'  After coming back from College he said he was so impressed with how out-going I had become, but I had to joke with him that I was always like that, people just never gave me a chance to be me.  Sean survived from cancer after High School but unfortunately took his own life my Senior Year in College.  He was a wonderful person with such a bright and compassionate personality.  Getting to be Jasmine for this show literally made my heart soar and I gladly dedicated my performance to him and his memory.

The show itself was crazy; there were so many people and I think most of the kids were just overwhelmed by all the Princesses, Princes, and Pirates.  This was their first time seeing any sort of live theater and it felt so wonderful to bring our talents to their Halloween celebration.  We had a short script filled with plenty of songs and I even got to sing 'A Whole New World' with our Aladdin who was moon-lighting as Willa Wonka for the day ;)

Princesses Ariel, Elsa, Anna, and Jasmine for Creating Arts Company

It was a great way to start my Halloween, doing something fun and exciting for these families, not to mention our CAC Members got to make magic for these kids and that's just fulfilling in itself!  I'll definitely look forward to playing Princess Jasmine again in the future and just want to thank Shannon for giving me the opportunity to play one of my dream roles!

Playing Abu in 'Aladdin'

Last weekend 'Aladdin' opened at The Promenade Playhouse for two encore performances by our Creating Arts Company members.  I joined the cast that week as Abu, Aladdin's best friend and monkey.  I was excited for another different role in just three weeks and to challenge myself in a more active way with a lot of non-verbal action.

Our 'Aladdin' Cast and one of our biggest fans!

I went to my first rehearsal on Thursday and we did a sing-through of all the songs.  On Friday we ran through the show and got our costumes in order.  Then, on Saturday morning we had our tech rehearsal with full run-through, and then quickly ran over the music and a few scenes one last time before our 3 pm show!  As Abu I didn't have that many lines but I am with Aladdin in most of his scenes and do a lot of physical activity as well.  Most of my communication is non-verbal so I figured out a voice that would fit a monkey for my monkey chatter and got my hop on.

The show was an absolute blast!  We were so over-sold on Saturday that we couldn't even use the audience to stage entrances and exits because people were seated in them.  In fact, the kids were so far onto the stage at one point when I was exiting a little boy grabbed a hold of me and wouldn't let go.  On Sunday I felt even more into the character, bouncing around the stage even though my legs were so sore from doing that all day on Saturday.  It was really physical and the kids as well as the parents seemed to be enjoying my humor and fun with the character.  I would definitely play that role all over again!

We get the kids involved throughout the show but at the end of the show after we did curtain call we got the kids back on-stage to dance with us to 'Jai Ho' a traditional Indian song.  I was dancing with this little girl and she was just laughing the entire time so after the show she came and gave me the biggest hug.  Then her Dad thanked me because he got a beautiful picture of us dancing and wanted me to know how special it was to his family that I had danced with his daughter to such an important song in their culture.  It made my day.

Iago & Abu...we just get each other ;)

I honestly felt like I was playing the entire time.  It was just fun and easy.  This was totally different than anything I've played in the last few weeks with this theater company.  I don't think I've formulated that type of character in a long time and I felt like I brought it to life and made magic.  What we get to do is so important as we impact so many children's lives.  It's never work; it's just what I love to do :)