Another Do Good Collection modeling gig in the books!

This past month I had the opportunity to work with a nonprofit organization. I modeled for a vintage clothing store named Do Good Company (dogoodkc.org) for their new summer/fall collection “Soleil”. All of their proceeds go to two companies that help animals and children in need so I was super excited to get behind it! I just wanted to share some photos from the shoot.

Because I fought off laziness, one of the best experiences towards my career happened to me over the weekend. Tosin is an actor for TV, Film and Theatre. He's landed roles in: Black Lightening, Run The World, Love Is, and many more projects, and I had the opportunity to work with him this past weekend, while filming for his concept trailer.

Paul Bogaev is a Grammy and Emmy Award Winning Music Director, Producer, and Arranger whose film credits include the Oscar-Winning CHICAGO, NINE, DREAMGIRLS, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, MULAN, and THE LION KING. Among his many Broadway credits are AIDA, TARZAN, BOMBAY DREAMS, SUNSET BOULEVARD, LES MISERABLES, and most recently, SPIDER MAN. For television, he was music director of CINDERELLA, ANNIE and SOUTH PACIFIC. He also holds credit of working with: Beyoncé, Whitney Houston, Heather Headley, Eddy Murphy, just to name a few!

A/N:

My university has amazing history of hosting special guests artists for each of their departments (fashion, creative writing, screenwriting, etc...) and I will forever be grateful for the opportunities they have given their students.

A lot of the students at the previous high school that I was enrolled in before I transferred, questioned why I hadn't auditioned for their show at the time which was Once On This Island. I never experimented with theatre let alone knew any shows so I answered with a simple shrug. It was kind of daunting to me at the time. But, that all changed when I was given a fresh start.

The following year, I transferred to a brand new high school, and because the seniors at the other high schools weren't allowed to transfer to this new school, my class had seniority for two years, AND we were the first graduating class. It was a big deal when it came to leaving our mark for the following generations, so I just knew that I had for be one of the first people to perform on the shiny performing arts stage. I had somehow managed to follow my mother's footsteps and enrolled in my first ever show choir which I thoroughly enjoyed, but I wanted more. I wasn't sure what “more” was until there was a sign up sheet to audition for Little Shop of Horrors. Without a doubt I signed up, but knew I needed to have a discussion at home with my mom.

Funnily enough, she played one of the doowop girls when she was in high school so she was able to give me a little bit of insight of the show. Essentially, Seymour, the main character and flower shop worker, takes care of an, at first innocent looking Venus Flytrap plant which he names Audrey 2. The more he gets to know this plant the weirder it gets. He discovers that the plant feeds off of blood and can talk! The plant even convinces Seymour to feed him humans. I was so confused by the plot that I just had to watch the film adaptation starring Rick Moranis as Seymour, Ellen Greene as Audrey, Tisha Campbell, Tichina Arnold, and Michelle Weeks the story tellers/Greek chorus members. Here's a trailer for those of you who have not seen it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqFZuR6UzjA

After watching the movie I was more convinced that it'd be worth doing and it was. After auditioning I landed my first theatrical role as Ronette, one of the three story tellers. With no acting class prior to this experience, it was through this first time experience that I discovered a new found love for live theatre and performing in general.

Spending years in the choral scene and dance teams, I already had a basis when it came to learning music and dancing. I think the hardest part for me was getting a grip on the acting and characters motivation, which was a no brainer because I was one of the only ones in the cast who had no acting experience. But I embraced the experience fully and soaked up as much as I could from both my director and cast mates.

I'm unable to find any production photos, so all of the photos below were from our first dress rehearsal:

One of the things I appreciate the most about The Coterie Theatre, is it’s history of putting on shows about black history to help educate their young audiences. It’s unfortunate that we even have to view black history as its own subject, but it’s the part of American history that cannot and shouldn’t be ignored.

Their Struggle

This play was about the Freedom Rides and the brave young individuals who took a lot of the hardship (racism, discrimination, etc...) so that African Americans could have the same opportunities as Caucasians when it came to bus transportation. Multiple groups of civil rights activists (particularly students, both black and white) rode interstate buses through the (at the time) wicked south, to challenge the enforcement of segregated buses. The Freedom Rides took place May 4th, 1961- December 10th of the same year. The first freedom ride began in Washington, DC with the original 13 freedom riders (7 black and 6 white), who took the Greyhound bus that was scheduled to reach New Orleans on the 17th. They made their way through Virginia, and North Carolina which grabbed the public's eye. The first violent incident happened in Rockhill, South Carolina. John Lewis (THE JOHN LEWIS) and a few others were attacked as they tried to enter a whites-only waiting area. Although they were attacked, they were “trained” before leaving the bus station to continue to be resilient and act as if any of the attacks didn’t phas them. The day after the event, the group made it to Atlanta, GA where some of the riders moved to Trailways buses. Many more angry mobs chased the riders and buses out of their states and it wasn't until Martin Luther King Jr. led a service in Montgomery, Alabama where thousands of freedom ride supporters attended, when things began to “settle”. He called Robert Kennedy for protection. President JFK didn't want America to look bad as a country, so he helped out by asking the angry mobs to “cool off”. The rides continued for several months, and under pressure from the Kennedy administration, the ICC (Interstate Commerce Commission), prohibited segregation in interstate transit terminals.

Thank you Freedom Riders.

The Show

RISE UP was written by Lisa Evans the third show of the season that I was chosen to be in. The Coterie once again, snagged the first American premier. The cast had a total of 4 individuals; one black male, two black females, and one white male. Each playing the role of modern day high school students putting on a class project about The Freedom Rides. What made this play different than most that I see is that it was all in spoken word form. For those of you who are unfamiliar with what spoken word is, it's speaking but in poetic form. Some words are more emphasized or used differently then others. Here's a glance of the written dialogue:

Em played by Catera Combs

Dayz played by Khrystal Coppage

TY played by Jay Love

CJ played by Jordan Luty

My Struggle

I will say, as an actress reenacting some of the abuse throughout the play, it was very mentally and physically tiring. To be pushed into the realm of the state of the world in the 60s and then jumping back into the current day reality, is really eye opening. Unfortunately, I can still see the resemblance of protest and fighting for equal rights today. Not only were we playing the riders themselves, but we each played a total of 4+ historical figures, accents and all! Personally, I struggled with a lot of the dialect. Out of the 4 of us, I had the least amount of training. As a girl born and raised in the mid-west, before this production, the most difficult dialect I had to overcome was an Italian dialect, but that soon changed. Since The Freedom Rides took place in the South, 95% of the characters I played were southern, except JFK. Yes, I played John F. Kennedy who was the president at the time. Luckily, we had an amazing dialect coach named Scott Stackhouse to help us through my trouble spots. Up until the very hour before opening, I continued to work on the dialects with Scott in hopes that I wouldn't embarrass myself on stage. It was a challenge that I’m glad I got to take on!

What amazed me the most was the groups of students that came in with open minds. After each show, we held a short Q&A session about the freedom rides and they came in with generous amounts of questions! Sometimes I even learned a thing or two from them!

https://cinnamon.video/watch?v=446369391961966197

https://cinnamon.video/watch?v=446140233445017339

Subscribe so you can get a close view of the set and design!

Text “STAGE” to 74121 to help save The Coterie Theatre! Any amount will help!

Never in a million years did I think I’d have part in children’s theate/TYA (theatre for young audiences). I hadn’t studied it in college, and I surely didn’t know anything about children. But in March of 2019 to that same December, I was recruited to do 4 shows back-to-back in front of hundreds of children daily, and it was life changing. Eventually, I will get to all of the shows that I performed in, but I would love to honor the very first professional TYA show I was offered a contract for as my KC debut, Beat Bugs: A Musical Adventure.

The Coterie had the privilege of doing one of the first American premiers of the show which is based off of a Netflix series with the same name. It’s a children’s cartoon that exposes them to the works of the Beatles, by using current artist. Take a listen:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_Ev_Es7onw

Something I found out while studying for the audition in early February, is that you can find all of the full episodes on YouTube if you don’t have a Netflix subscription. If your child has yet to be exposed to this wonderful series or you just need a break from parenting for a moment, have them at least watch the first episode. I guarantee you’ll be able to do whatever you need to do without the helpful hand of a child for an hour or so. (You can find the soundtracks on Spotify or wherever you listen to music as well if your child cant get enough!)

After having part in a successful student showcase my senior year of college, I was recruited by artistic director, Jeff Church to audition for the show, which Jeff was also the directing! As said earlier, I have never attempted to do TYA let alone audition for it, but I always say yes to most of the opportunities that present themselves. Preparing for the audition I had no idea what to expect. We were given the full libretto (all of the sheet music) and the script, and was asked to pick a cut from a song of our choice and two scenes to do. After reading the script multiples times, I knew who I wanted to go for and originally that was Prudence, Mean Mr. Mustard’s wife/secretary. I was new to the TYA and KC scene as a whole so who was I to go after one of the larger roles? Right?...Wrong. About a week passed of me practicing for the role of Prudence and something wasn't “sticking” for me, so at that moment I knew I had to change my focus. I started looking into Kumi, one of the Beat Bug members:

I could tell through the script and the songs the creators chose for her, that she wasn’t just a cute little ladybug. She had a lot of drive and fire, and was also very innovative and that was when I began to resonate with this buggy. A few weeks later, I had my audition song, “Come Together”, and scenes ready to go.

Here’s baby Catera waiting nervously for her first out-of-town audition:

I spent a good amount of time trying to decide what to wear. I was used to wearing nice dresses with heels and lipstick, so this was something I had to quickly adapt to. Reading and trying to get advice from The Coterie’s website about what to wear to a TYA audition, I found that I needed to wear something that I could move in. I mixed the thought of that with the question, “What would a buggy wear?” I was my own costume designer at the moment and dug through my closet. Eventually, finding a lightweight orange shirt with laced flowers across the shoulders and found it perfect, because to me it represented nature. I then paired it with black dance tights and light blue shorts and converses to help elongate my “buggy” legs and so that I could appear more youthful.

During the audition, I performed the scenes with a colleague of mine which made the auditioning experience 100 times better. The energy from everyone in the room was so cheerful and supportive, I almost didn’t want to leave the room. I really felt comfortable and I genuinely had a great time. It was truly me “on my best day” Lamby Hedge, my college acting professor would say.

About a week later I received an email from Jeff, that I was offered the role of Kumi and immediately I jumped for joy. I didn’t waste anytime accepting the role that catapulted my career as an actress. I was so proud because before my time at Stephens College was over, I had a gig to show for my degree in doing what I love. After gaining that degree in 2018 I worked hard to save enough money to begin my adventures in KC and in February of the following year, my life changed.

Crew & Cast:

Director: Jeff Church

Music Director: Anthony Edwards

Choreographer: Marc Wayne

Costume Coordinator: Georgianna Buchanan

Sound Designer: David Kehl

Properties/Set Dressing: Lee O. Barker

Stage Manager: Danielle Walsh

Assistant Stage Manager: Taylor Sullivan

Walter: Steven Eubanks

Crick: Darrington Clark

Buzz: Morgan Lynn Sterrett

Kumi: Catera Combs

Jay: Roan Ricker

Mean Mr. Mustard: Phil Newman

Prudence, Band Member: Mandy Morris-Newman

Miner Bird, Band Member, and Queen Bee: Morgan Walker

Miner Bird, Band Member, Postman Bee, and Joe Cockeroach: Jake Golliher

Mr. Sun, Miner Bird, Stg. Pepper, and Flattop: Jacob Elliot

Music rehearsals with the musical genius, Anthony Edwards began March 26th. I walked into this room not knowing anyone but one Stephens alumni, but now I can gladly say that I know each of these wonderful human beings very well. The passion that each of them hold when it comes to the arts is truly inspiring. They embraced me as the “new kid” with arms wide open and that is something I truly love about the artists community. After a week of learning and drilling the music we were able to have a sing and read through of the script with the entirety of the team there. Although the script wasn’t perfect because it was a new production, everyone enjoyed the content!

Moving Spaces

Shortly, we were able to end rehearsals in the office space and move to the actual stage. One of the things I appreciate about The Coterie is that the set is always up and ready before the actors even get into the space. This is very important especially when it comes to getting a feel for the space and marking scenes. It automatically gets rid of the “guessing phase”

of where objects are, making time more efficient.

Most of the scenes took place at the Beat Bug’s club house which was a juice carton, and sometimes the scene seamlessly transformed into the Strawberry Fields. The scene design was by Jordan Janota, and the set was built by Scott Hobart. Yes, ONE MAN built the set himself!!! For the entirety of the time I was with The Coterie, Scott worked countless hours on each set, making sure that screws were in place where they were supposed to be so no one got hurt and even painting! Pop Culture Sculpture were responsible for all of the balloon art that you see, and Jarret Bertoncin made the scene come more alive with the lighting! Soon, we were able to add costumes which were brought in and slightly altered by Georgianna Buchanan. Believe it or not, the first time we wore the costumes was the morning that we went in for the FOX 4 promo:

Showtime!

The run of the show was from April 16th – May 19th, and we put on a total of 51 shows. The pacing was something else that I had to adapt to. I was used to putting on one show a day at 7pm for a week, rather than two/three shows everyday starting at 10am. It was a “job” but didn't feel like a regular 9-5. Although, we did the show “millions' of times, no show or audience was the same. The young audiences really heightened our awareness as actors. We got to play and create smiles and inspiration for the young theatre goers, something you can't put a price on. I remember being mesmerized by the chunks of kids that came in to see us perform every single morning. I thought for sure that we'd run out of kids, but we never did. The Coterie is great with connecting with schools from across the midwestern area. What's crazy is, I remembered The Coterie from when I was in middle school but I hadn't realized it until the first day we stepped into the space. I remember sitting in the audience on stage right and watching the performers, knowing that I wanted to be up there at some point in my life, and here I am performing on the very stage that I once looked at from an audiences perspective.

Check out the overview video below with an important message from Jeff Church himself!

https://cinnamon.video/watch?v=436061501682353742

To my subscribers, check out the backstage shenanigans in the following video!!

https://cinnamon.video/watch?v=436091466511550272

THERE’S EVEN MORE content for my subscribers below this line...