Picture it, Toronto, 2016. It had been almost 2 years post musical theatre school, no TV/Film agent wanted to sign me and I was running around the city going to auditions left, right and center. In June 2016, during my lunchbreak at my catering job, I saw an audition notice for a “Golden Girls” puppet show. They were looking for actors with strong comedic chops who could capture the essence of the iconic TV characters. Puppetry skills were not required, but obviously a huge plus.

I had watched a decent amount of Golden Girls episodes with my family growing up and I wasn’t half bad at impressions. Let’s give it a shot!

The task was to prepare a monologue and perform it in the voice of one of the Golden Girls (I chose Blanche and Sophia). I walked in, did the monologue and then the panel said, “now do it with this puppet”. They handed me the Mrs. Thistletwat puppet from Avenue Q (which is quite big!) I froze, fumbled, tried my best and left the room. I was not getting a callback.

A few days later, after completely letting go of that embarrassing audition, I received an email from the producer: “Hey, I loved your Sophia and I want to have you in for callbacks. Can you please practice your sync? Just using a sock is fine.” I was floored and because I can’t do anything halfway, I ended up building my version of a Sophia puppet with dollar store finds, YouTube tutorials and practiced incessantly for 2 days leading up to the callback.

The callback was led by Canadian puppet master, Mike Petersen, and he gave us a crash course on puppetry for stage. I left the callback feeling accomplished and proud of myself for learning the basics of a new skill in so little time. A week later, I got the contract. To say I was shocked was the understatement of the century and honestly, I had no idea what I was getting into! The 2 week-8-hours-a-day rehearsal process was a speedy blur of memorization, blocking and oh, learning a completely new skill. During that time, I learned everything there was to know about Muppet-style puppetry for stage from the puppetry director Mike (who coached the callbacks) and by watching my lovely cast who were all wonderful puppeteers; Seanna Kennedy, Jeremy Crittenden, Kelly McCallister and later, Joey Graff. Every spare moment was spent practicing in the mirror, really studying my puppet and making sure Sophia was getting all the attention.

Thank You For Being a Friend, 2016 at the Al Green Theatre, Toronto

The show opened July 2016 and after a very good run, we extended the show for another 2 months in the fall. At this point in my life, I was questioning whether or not I needed to go back to school and have performing as a side gig. Before this show, my professional career was struggling, and my parents were getting a little concerned about how I was going to make a living in the arts. To ease their worries, in early 2016, I applied to the University of Toronto and got accepted into the BA program with a specialization in linguistic. I love languages, accents and etymology, so this felt like the most logical academic route. I could be a vocal coach!

A month after we opened the show, I was sitting in the coffee shop by the theatre and figuring out what university classes I was going to take, when my producer came up to me and let me know the show got extended into the fall. I couldn’t go to university AND do this show (this was before all the zoom classes). In that moment, I decided that the universe had made its decision for me and that I should pursue my dream: to perform.

The show did incredibly well and ran on and off for almost 3 years. We performed over 150 times in theatres across Ontario and went as far west as Victoria, BC and then all the way east to Charlottetown, PEI. I never knew that puppetry was going to be a part of my journey, (let alone such a huge part!) and I’m so grateful that I got the opportunity to be immersed in such a joyful and delightfully zany corner of the performing arts.

Thank You For Being a Friend Toronto Cast from left to right:
Jeremy Crittenden, Kelly McCallister, David Rowan, Seanna Kennedy, Liana Bdéwi