The date is March 1st. I enter the not-so-unfamiliar chapel theatre

for the first read thru with the entire cast. Executive Producer Keven

Myhre shakes my hand welcomes me in, I choose a seat next to a

familiar face, Understudy Heidi Hackney. The room is bustling with

people, Kathleen Cahill the playwright is here! An amazingly confident

stage manager; John Geertsen stands counting the minutes before

liftoff. There's Meg Gibson! You would have to be dead not be warmed

and charmed by her amazing energy. One by one I am introduced to these

amazingly creative working actors, artistic minds poise and ready to

begin this wonderful journey. I become incredibly overwhelmed at the

magnitude of this job I was undertaking. I should be more prepared...

Everyone here is so....professional! I look around, I begin to panic.

How am I not memorized???! I bet all the actors are off book, they've

had there scripts for months, I just got my copy!-- AND suddenly I am

passed a container.

And in this container some of the biggest juiciest strawberries I have

probably ever seen in my life stared back at me. I look up. Meg smiles

and introductions begin. Slowly we begin to reveal the incredible

journey CHARM has had; from work shopping in Orlando, to stage

readings here at SLAC, the addition of extra work weeks for the

rehearsal process, and everything right down to the inception of CHARM

right from the playwrights mouth. What do I do? How do I proceed??

This is not something that happens everyday. To be on the front lines

of such an amazing story and to delve into so many great characters

with artists, I have grown to respect and admire, is a once in a

lifetime opportunity. I am beaming with excitement.

I am a recently graduated acting student from the University of Utah.

I have done numerous College performances, even some professional work

here in Salt Lake. But this chance to understudy at a theater like

SLAC, to be exposed to the world of professional theatre with such

grace and positive cohesive creative energy is something I can only

dream my newly budding career will produce again. SLAC and this entire

process of CHARM was an amazing stepping stone in my career as an

actor and my process as an artist. I thank everyone right down to my

fellow understudies for there insight, conversations, thoughts and

creative drive. I know another first day table read equipped with

heavenly strawberries is unlikely, but wouldn't it be great?