I’m Sofia! I am a freshman and I love reading, writing, history, oldies music–which I consider 50s to 70s–acting, singing, watching movies, and just being a generally ridiculous young lady.
For the musical The Pirates of Penzance, I’m in the ensemble as one of the Major General’s daughters, Eloise. She is positively loony and I love her with all my heart. She is ecstatic at the idea of pirates coming, even though they wish to force her into marriage, and thinks sending police officers to their doom is great fun. Despite this, she loves her sisters and deeply cares for her father, at one point literally throwing herself in front of him, shielding him with her body, to protect him. Think Snape in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban-style(if you know you know). It’s pretty cool.
What brought you to join the cast, pit, crew for The Pirates of Penzance?
A few things, actually. For one, after The Crucible I was just enamored with the theater program. The people I met were the goofiest, kindest, most lovable group ever, and I wanted another shot at the stage to become a better actress. I am also in choir and love to sing, so when the opportunity came to sing and act simultaneously, I had to take it.
What is one story you can tell from rehearsals, pit practices, or crew sessions?
Me, Neela, and Olivia are the three girls at the beginning of the overture, which we blocked pretty early on. The next time we ended up running the scene was a month later, so to say we were rusty was a bit of an understatement. Let’s just say in the two minutes onstage, I got onstage late, sat on the pit cover (no-no), and tripped over Neela’s legs. While she was in a chair. Yep, I’m quite the charmer.
“Stay, we must not lose our senses” all the way to the Act I finale is my favorite. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll just say it’s got some of the best comedic acting in the show. The Pirates of Penzance is an operetta or a mini-opera, so the vast majority of the show is singing. However, there is a good chunk of dialogue that immediately follows an action-packed scene. In this part you can see what the characters’ goals are and how they feel when those goals cannot yet be accomplished–that is, when they aren’t breaking out into song. What’s more, the entire cast is involved, and it is so cool and funny to see everyone’s unique reactions to the zany doings of the Pirate King and the General.
What do you hope the audience will be thinking about in the car as they drive home after this show?
I hope they will still be laughing at the absurdity of the show, yet still be in awe over the singing. I will know I’ve won at life if years from now my friends and/or family will be around the dinner table and fondly mention, “Remember that one pirate/daughter/police who (insert goofy antic)?”
Anything else you want to talk about?
You should come to see the show because there are pirates. And kidnapping. Yippee.
For more info on the musical, The Pirates of Penzance, check out our website here
For tickets to the musical, visit our GoFan site
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