Act Out

Who are you?  What year are you?  What are your interests?
I am Maggie Rappa. I am a sophomore. I like to listen to music and sing, mainly musical theatre. I also love to research things such as crime, the Titanic and the American Revolution (and not just because I love Hamilton…not at all).

I’m so glad you decided to tell people about yourself and the current Homestead production.  What exactly do you do for The Little Mermaid?
In this production, I am part of the merfolk ensemble. Along with that, I am also co-head of make-up. I plan to do make-up for future productions and to be part of the cast in future musical productions.

What brought you to join the cast for The Little Mermaid?
One of my goals for high school was to be in a musical production, and now that I have had the experience I will definitely be auditioning for the future musicals.

Do you have any stories from rehearsals, practices or crew sessions?
When we ran Act One for the first time, I loved singing through Under the Sea without choreography and dancing around however we wanted. I also, surprisingly enough, enjoy the warm-ups. Running around the auditorium and doing sit-ups is enjoyable, especially when doing it with people I enjoy being around.

All art comments on something, aligns itself with current issues.  How does The Little Mermaid comment on current social or political issues and has it influenced you this winter?
The thing that has influenced me that I didn’t think would be the changed lyric in “Kiss the Girl.”

The very famous line is “It don’t take a word, not a single word, Go on and kiss the girl, kiss the girl”

In reading articles, Figg decided that to make the song less problematic, we needed to change the line.  Our Assistant Director, Chris Elst came up with our new line:

“Go on and take her hand, she’ll help you understand, Go on and kiss the girl, kiss the girl”

Because of the #MeToo movement and consent are such huge issues and has been for a long time, I think it is something to address. And since The Little Mermaid is Disney, most people wouldn’t think of it like that, but that’s exactly what it is, and even if people won’t notice, it still has impacted me and I’m sure others.

What do you hope the audience will be thinking about in the car as they drive home after this show?
I hope the kids will go home and not be able to stop talking about it. And I hope the adults will go home with a sense of what it feels to be a child again. And with that sense, maybe regain some of the imagination they may have lost along the way.

What’s one thing that is different in this play or rehearsal process than anything else we’ve done in the Homestead Theatre Department?
I feel that something different about this production is how much people have learned from being apart of it. Because The Little Mermaid isn’t the most popular Disney story for our generation, many people overlook it, even though while being a part of the production I have been able to learn so many life lessons that will help going forward.