Two actors with Evanston connections, Heidi Kettenring and Lucia Godinez, star in the upcoming manufacturing of Big Fish on the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, scheduled to run from January 25-March 19, 2022.
At its coronary heart, Big Fish is the story of the connection between a father, Edward Bloom, and a son, Will Bloom, and Will’s try to know his father regardless of Edward’s use of fantasy and telling tall tales to distance himself from these he loves. It’s a story of reconciliation stuffed with humor and poignancy.
Directed by Henry Godinez, with musical route by Jeff Award winner Ryan T. Nelson, Big Fish is predicated on the 1998 novel by Daniel Wallace.
Kettenring’s function is that of Sandra Bloom, the spouse of Edward and mom of Will. Her character ages on stage all through the play. This is her 27th function at Marriott Theatre; final yr she performed Dolly Levi in their manufacturing of Hello, Dolly!
Portraying a personality whose journey goes forwards and backwards in time “is challenging and hard, but the kind of challenge I really love,” Kettenring mentioned. “I use my voice, my stance, how I hold my head…all of these are ways I communicate my character’s inner feelings.”
Kettenring is a graduate of Northwestern University’s School of Communication and at the moment lives in Evanston along with her husband and fellow actor, David Girolmo. (Girolmo is featured in Porchlight Music Theatre’s New Faces Sing Broadway 1951 at SPACE on January 23.)
“The pressure of live theater is what makes it exciting. It’s a communal experience–anything can happen,” mentioned Kettenring.
Godinez is in the ensemble and performs the function of The Witch who enters the stage early in the primary act. Godinez says “every character in the show teaches Edward, the protagonist, something about himself. The Witch tells Edward a prophecy about how he will die, which actually frees him. He is able to lead the rest of his life without fear, always leading with love.”
Godinez grew up and went to high school in Evanston, a product of Districts 65 and 202. She attended pre-Ok at Cherry Preschool, Davis and Washington for elementary college (her household moved, therefore the change) and Nichols for center college. Then on to ETHS (Class of 2014) and Northwestern (Class of 2018) the place she graduated as a theater main and from the musical theater certificates program.
Godinez performed on the Team Evanston touring soccer crew, however in highschool she lastly needed to determine if she wished to attend soccer apply or theater apply–there was not sufficient time to do each. She selected theater.
At ETHS she was in YAMO, the coed-directed and carried out present, and was lucky to be in theater lessons taught by Tim Herbert. Herbert acknowledged her expertise, and fostered her theatrical data and development. Godinez mentioned Herbert, together with lecturers and YAMO advisers Katrina Engel and Aaron Carney, had been “instrumental” in her skilled growth.
In Godinez’s junior yr, she secured one of many feminine leads in the present In the Heights, produced by Porchlight Music Theatre. She juggled 5-6 performances per week and stored up along with her college research. The present ran from September 9 by December 31, 2016 and “totally changed her life,” mentioned Godinez.
She’s just about been working steadily since then. She described it as “an industry where you learn by doing,” together with compartmentalize so you may work on and retain quite a lot of completely different initiatives concurrently.
Godinez has nothing however good issues to say about Evanston.
“For aspiring young performers, ETHS provides a nurturing environment that helps build confidence. Evanston’s strong support of the arts is invaluable. Both of them really helped me,” mentioned Godinez.
