Homegrown Talent pt 2: The Three Fays
You always want an understudy in a production in case one of your performers becomes ill, hurts themselves, or wins a free trip to Disneyland and bolts. In an earlier article, we spoke with Casey Gray. He has to know all the male parts. For the women, it’s shared between three: Jill Amantea, Cydney Streadwick, and Amy Schroder.
All three attend Rossland Secondary School during the school year. All three were approached by Lisa Henderson to audition, and they did on the R.S.S. stage which they were all familiar with.
Jill felt very confident in the dancing part of the audition, “but the singing part was extremely nerve-racking for me. I remember standing alone on the stage and being so incredibly nervous. After the audition was over I was content knowing I’d done the best I could do.”
For Amy, her tryout wasn’t as good as she was expecting, “I had injured myself badly just days before. But I got in, so it must have gone pretty well!”
All of them had dance experience, some theatre, but none had any history of singing – except Cydney, “I practice that in my car and shower.”
This missing part in a performer’s arsenal made one particular moment scary for Jill, “The first vocal rehearsal, I felt like I had no idea what I was doing and I was so intimidated to be surrounded by amazing, trained singers.”
And how scary was their first show? Cydney explains: “Not very. There were only six people in the audience and I knew at least four of them. So, I wasn’t that nervous.”
With the summer almost over, Amy, along with the other two, have found the run “absolutely amazing!” And, even though all don’t plan on acting and singing down the road, they all do have dancing planned in their future. We all wish Fay 1, Fay 2, and Fay 3 the best with their young careers.
Being a narrator onstage, you have to find yourself in the action, but not. Tricky, eh? Well, Christopher Coutts, who’s Billy, finds himself shifting to the side of the stage, out of the way. Funny enough, he always seems to be orbiting the deer head.
“I think that deer head and I have a special connection. You never know, we might sneak away into the country together.”
That might not be the best idea, Chris. Hunting season is just around the corner.
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