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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...

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