Playing Sally Bowles

One of the biggest perks of being in theatre is that I get to pretend to be someone else on a regular basis, and it's considered completely acceptable! I get to do things that I would never do in real life without being judged. I get to dress up and do ridiculous makeup. Before our first dress rehearsal, when I was getting into costume for the first time, I had a serious moment when I put my wig on. Being in full makeup, it was a transformation. I was no longer Emma Clark. I was Sally Bowles. Believe it or not, it's incredibly freeing.



Playing Sally Bowles in "Cabaret" was no different. She is a totally different person than myself. For one thing, she's English. She sells her body in a night club, drinks constantly, does drugs, and flits through life, not caring how her actions affects her long-term. She lives by the seat of her pants and consciously pays no attention to the world around her. Needless to say, I'm not much like her.

Or so I thought...



What was so amazing about this role was even though we are clearly so different, I was still able to find things we have in common. The fact is that, even though she's an awful person, she's still human. There were still levels on which I understand her and connect to her. Even though she's brash and unrefined on the outside, she's still vulnerable, feminine and emotional. Finding that common ground between us is really what enabled me to dig so deep into her character. Getting that connected is what ultimately gave me the ability to immerse myself deep enough to feel her pain myself. There were a few nights where it would hit me so hard that I would cry on stage. It was a beautiful, fulfilling feeling to be so utterly connected to her, this person that I thought I would never completely understand.



Playing Sally taught me so much. I grew as a performer and learned that I can push my limits and challenge my boundaries. In fact, I have no boundaries! The experience once again confirmed what I have known for so much of my life: I love being an actress. It is my passion, and I would never be as happy doing anything else.

Not to mention, I absolutely loved wearing that wig ;)

CABARET: The Reason I've Been Away

WOW! I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted something on my blog. I sincerely apologize to anybody who visited recently. I hope that I will never leave it vacant for that long ever again.







It has been an insane couple of months, mostly due to the fact that I was playing Sally Bowles in the show "Cabaret" at Cleveland State University. It was the most amazing experience I've ever had in the theatre. I adored playing that role and got to work with the most marvelous people. We had an incredible cast and the most wonderful directors. I danced, I sang, I acted, learning a ton about my field.







I'm extremely sad that it is over. It was by far the most enjoyable show I have ever been a part of. I know that I could've done that show on the long run. I also know, though, that I can walk away from it being completely happy with my work, knowing that I did my absolute best, and having made many new friends.

I am one step closer to my future career! Huzzah!

***Photos courtesy of Steve Wagner***

Broadway Bound

It's still Blogtember, but I think I'm going to start shying away from actually detracting from my posts with that fact (after this time, I promise). I'll continue to insert the button at the bottoms of my posts and you should all still check it out, but I think I'm just going to write on the prompts instead.

Day 6 Prompt: Describe a distinct moment when your life took a turn.

I mulled over this for a while, thinking about the times when I literally felt my life take a shift. There have been a couple, but I think the biggest one happened when I was in sixth grade. I touched on this lightly in my "Where I Come From" post, but I want to delve into it a tad more.

When I was in sixth grade, the big girls at my dance studio were opening the summer recital with "One" from A Chorus Line, complete with the amazing original choreography. It also just so happened that this particular musical was playing at the Carousel Dinner Theater in Akron, which no longer exists (the theater, not the city). After some persuasion, my best friend and I managed to convince our parents to take us to see it. It was me, my bestie, my mom, her mom, and my cousin. Looking back, it probably wasn't the most appropriate musical for two sixth graders and a fourth grader...

Photo by Paul Kolnik

Those actors mesmerized me. I was entranced by how they moved, the words they spoke, how they embraced the characters, and how they drew me in. Then there was the dancing. I about died, I was so enthralled with the whole thing. It was in that moment that I knew that I had to be one of them some day. I had to get on that stage and perform and be an actress. The rest is history (in the making)! From that point on, I was obsessed. I got serious about my dancing, I did way more acting, saw more shows, did my research, signed up for master classes and eventually started vocal lessons. I participated in my high school drama club, community theatre, and continued to advance in my dancing. Now, ten years later, I'm attending Cleveland State University for theatre performance and I'm a talent scholarship student. We work closely with many acting companies in Cleveland and we are in residence with The Cleveland Playhouse and Groundworks Dance Theatre, not to mention we have state-of-the-art facilities for rehearsal and performance at Playhouse Square. I am so blessed and amazed at these opportunities.

The best part is, I know I'm headed for greatness. That one moment when I was only eleven, and I knew that I was going to make something awesome from my life on the stage. This is only the beginning, that's the best part.

Things You Should Know

Since my blog seems to be gaining a little bit of attention, I think it's about time that I share the things that my friends know about me, but you, my anonymous readers, don't know. These are all pretty basic things that everybody in my life knows, but I guess I'm kind of late on the introductions, so here we go!

In 2010, I lived in Belgium for a year on foreign exchange. I stayed with host families and went to school there. I actually got a second high school diploma, so I have an American diploma and a Belgian one. Pretty sweet, huh? During that year, I got to travel to eight countries and see some of the most iconic landmarks in the world. I'm pretty obsessed with travel, now, and hope to do much much more of it after graduation.

I'm fluent in French! One of those perks from being abroad. I love speaking French and I wish I got more opportunities to do it. It's a wonderful language and I can't wait to get back to Europe and speak it again. I also study French as part of my double major.

The other half of that double major is theatre. Performing is my first passion and I love it! I'll graduate in two years and then I'm moving to New York. I know there are a million aspiring actresses out there, but it's my dream and I am never letting go of it. My biggest dream is to be a part of an international tour. Combination theatre and travel? Yes please!

I am a cast member at Walt Disney World. I perform in the Electrical Parade as a Finale Dancer. If you're not familiar with that parade, the Finale unit is at the very end (hence the name, "finale") and it is America-themed. The float is absolutely monstrous and looks like a ruffling American flag with a massive bald eagle on the back. It's pretty majestic coming down the street. I also have the privilege of dancing next to it :)

Well that's all for now! Hope you all enjoyed learning a little bit more about me, and I hope to learn about all of you, too! What are your great life adventures?

Dancing In The Backyard

*Note: I'm not sure why my photos are uploading slightly pixelated... I'm looking at it and hope to have it fixed very soon!*

If you didn't already know this, I'm studying theatre at school. I am personally very much interested in musical theatre and am always looking for new songs to use for auditions, as well as fun and different musicals, just to inspire me and so that I have a wider vocabulary when it comes to the world of Broadway. Last year, I stumbled across "Title Of Show", which may be the best musical ever written for four people. I can't believe it took me that long to find it. Especially because when I went to all my other musical theatre friends freaking out about it, they looked at me in that where-have-you-been look. Sigh.

Anyways, there is a beautiful song in this show called "A Way Back To Then" and I'm obsessed with it! As soon as I found it, I knew that I had to learn it. Let me tell ya, that didn't take very long! Of course, I struggled with it a little bit because when I had to use it for a class, I was in the middle of a cold and my throat was not having that belt at the end! The struggle.

The reason I bring that up is because the first line of the song goes "dancing in the backyard, KoolAid mustache and butterfly wings". That really captures what was happening in these photos! That is my grandmother's backyard. In other words, my childhood. My sister and I spent many a happy afternoon frolicking there with KoolAid (or something like it) and pretending to be butterflies (or some other creature). Being back there all grown up and dolled up sparked a little bit of that inner child, which is why I was running all over the place and climbing on things and being goofy.

I think these photos have a sort of "Alice In Wonderland" feel to them. I don't know why I kept my arms in permanent Alice mode for some of these. I guess I just had that in my brain. That dress has a whimsical bird pattern, combined with the slight poof of the sleeves and the asymmetry of the skirt, it reminds me of that carefree kid innocence of Alice. Plus I was wearing a pocket watch around my neck, leaving only one question... Where was the White Rabbit?

Do you have any fun childhood memories? Maybe of backyard shenanigans?