Friday, September 8, 2023

Ella as Annie in The Knight at Dawn!


After Ella performed in Matilda this past month with Lia, it was pretty obvious that she wanted to continue acting by participating in more productions at NWTL this coming school year.  Luckily, after consulting the calendar, I learned that she could participate in both Knight at Dawn this fall and Annie this winter as the rehearsal schedule worked perfectly around her gymnastics schedule.  Although Ella was immediately on board to do Annie, it took some convincing from Lia and some bribing from me (slippers and a ticket to the Barbie movie) to get Ella to agree to audition for this fall play.  Since this play is just for 7 to 12 year old girls, Lia pointed out that Ella had a decent shot at getting one of the lead roles.  So, with only five days to practice, Ella and I chose a monologue (from the Pixar movie, Brave) and a song ("Naughty" from Matilda) for her to memorize.  We spent about 30 to 60 minutes every day getting Ella ready for her audition on August 26th.  Ella worked really hard and went in and "nailed" her audition (which I learned later on from the director, Jen).  In fact, Jen said that Ella's growth from before and after Matilda was incredible.  As a result, when Ella showed up for her first rehearsal today, she found out that she was assigned the female, lead role in the play!  Since the directors didn't email out a cast list during the first rehearsal which they have done in the past, I had to wait until I picked her up to find out the exciting news.  In fact, I actually found out from her friend, Elise, who came out of the theater before Ella did.  I was so amazed and excited for her!  Way to go, Ella!  I can't wait to watch you shine on the stage in 2.5 months.


The darling poster that NWTL made of the Knight at Dawn cast, complete with pictures and autographs of all of the children.

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