Rhiannon Karp’s love for performance arts shines through as she takes the lead female role at the Lake Worth Playhouse.
November 16, 2016
The lights go down; first a glow, then pitch black, while the audience finds their seats and the actors take the stage of the Lake Worth Playhouse. One such shining star on that stage is Suncoast’s very own senior, Rhiannon Karp, who plays the role of Hope Cladwell in the satirical comedy musical, “Urinetown,” with music by Mark Hollmann and lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis.
“I play the rich guy’s daughter who falls in love with a guy from the rebel poor. I am very innocent, and a little ditsy, but also very caring and supportive to everyone,” Karp said about her role in the musical. The performance itself is full of fun musical numbers that spoof other traditional musicals like “West Side Story” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”
While rehearsing for the show which was performed all during the month of October, Karp has also been keeping up with school work as an IB student. The opening night was originally October 6, but because of Hurricane Matthew, it was postponed to the next weekend, while the closing date remained October 23.
Karp said, “the most difficult part of this experience has to be balancing school work, two jobs, a social life, and the show. Rehearsals ran from 7pm to 10-pm (and sometimes later), so I rarely got more than four hours of sleep a night.”
All the hard work put into the show came along the experience of a new cast outside of the high school setting, which included actors of various ages and musical backgrounds.
“I am one of the youngest in the cast, but we were all treated in the same level, which is very nice,” Karp said. “I’ve met so many talented performers and techies in this run, and, as they say, there’s no closer family than a theatre family!”
Because it was such a professional experience, Karp’s audition for the musical and her performance were perfect practice for the upcoming audtions for the school musical in the spring. The audition for “Urinetown” consisted of singing a musical number of her choice and performing a dance number from the musical.
“I was called for a dance audtion in which we went into small groups of four after being taught a dance up-to-tempo from the show and performed it for the panel. That was definitely the most stressful thing!” Karp said.
The experience of working professionally and in a new space outside of the amazing Suncoast theatre program has been extremely beneficial as Karp plans to pursue musical theatre in future after graduating high school.
She said, “After high school I want to pursue the performing arts. I am auditioning at eleven schools within the next few months.”
As Karp continues to commit to her craft and balance her academic and social life, her future looks as bright and focused as her spotlight.
Zanne Hanna is a senior at Suncoast in the IB program, and this is her second year as a staff writer for The Legend. She enjoys writing about her perspective in the music industry as she hopes to be a part of it one day. Along with a passion for writing, she is a singer and a songwriter and loves sharing her ideas with her fellow students.
