An occasional column that spotlights some of the most newsworthy performing artists in metro Atlanta.
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The basics: Caroline, 22, hasn’t even graduated from college yet (that happens in December), but she’s already working on stages across the metro area. She’s the proverbial triple threat: She can sing, dance and act. Through Sunday, she does it all as hopeful Hope Cladwell, the optimistic heroine of Urinetown: The Musical at Fabrefaction Theatre Company. Tickets: 404.876.9468 or HERE.
Hometown: Williamsville, Ill., a village of about 1,4oo near the capital city of Springfield.
Lives now: In a Buckhead apartment.
Moved South: To Cobb County, for her dad’s job, just before her freshman year of high school.
Where you’ve seen her: At Theatrical Outfit in Gifts of the Magi. At Aurora Theatre in Sweet Charity, A Chorus Line (Bebe) and a concert version of Beauty and the Beast. At Atlanta Lyric Theatre in 42nd Street, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Grease, Gypsy, Leader of the Pack, The Mikado and The Music Man. Also at the Alliance (as an understudy in Next to Normal) and Serenbe Playhouse (as a vocalist).
Training: She’ll collect a degree in dance from Kennesaw State University in December (she took a break to do Next to Normal and Magi back-to-back). Has been dancing since age 4 or 5.
First time onstage: In fourth grade in a production of Cinder-eily. She was Cinder-eily (a wealthy girl who falls for a potato picker), in a neon pink ’80s prom dress from the dress-up room at home.
The triple-threat thing: “I hope to think I’m an actor who sings and dances. I guess it depends on the day. Acting has become my No. 1 passion, and what I’ve been working to get better at.”
Goals: 1.) Graduate. 2.) Get into TV, film and commercial work. 3.) Keep working onstage.
New York or L.A.? Not in her immediate plans but not NOT-in-her-future, if you know what we mean.
Dream roles: Roxie Hart in Chicago and Clara in The Light in the Piazza. Also, she and boyfriend Nick Arapoglou (who plays sweetheart Bobby Strong in Urinetown) dream someone will produce the two-character relationship musical The Last 5 Years. And cast them.
Next: She reprises her role in Gifts of the Magi, which makes another holiday stop at Theatrical Outfit. She then does Horton Foote’s Dividing the Estate there in April (no singing, no dancing, just acting), sharing the stage with Atlanta stalwarts Rob Cleveland, Danielle Deadwyler, Bart Hansard, Mark Kincaid, Tess Malis Kincaid, Mary Lynn Owen and Maria Rodriguez-Sager, among others.
Why theater: “I can’t think of anything else I would do. I love it. Nothing makes me feel as happy as getting to perform. And so far I’ve been lucky enough to get to do it.”
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Kathy Janich, Encore Atlanta’s managing editor, has been seeing, covering or working in the performing arts for most of her life. Full disclosure: She’s affiliated with Fabrefaction Theatre Company. Please email: [email protected].
