oh Celia… i’ve played a few iconic characters over the years, but this one will always have a special place in my heart. her complexity and whimsy will follow me through my next projects, providing me with new tactics to use in the future. thank you to @mlesweeney3 and @jen_jewels_jen for giving me such a unique opportunity!! 🩷
As You Like It 📝🌳🎶
Director/Producer: Emily Sweeney
Stage Manager/Music Director/Producer: Jen Ambrosini
Production Designer/Scenic Designer/Props Master: Amanda Barth
Music Designer/Composer: Kaila Bingen
Costume Designer: Alyssa Ritacca
Photographer: David Sweeney
Three weeks of rehearsals in, and I am still pinching myself!!
When my sister Emily and I started Wildwood Theatre Company, I knew it would be meaningful but I never imagined it would feel like this. 🥹
Watching Emily lead our cast with such passion and intention every single rehearsal — she is something else. I am in awe of her, honestly, every single time. ♥️
And then there’s our cast. Sixteen of the most talented, generous, and joyful humans I’ve ever shared a room with. 🎭
One of our actors is an extraordinarily talented musician and composer — she wrote the music for all four songs in our show. We carved out dedicated rehearsal time for them and another actor-musician in our cast to sit together and bring what she had already created fully to life. What came out of those sessions is something truly special. And then there’s the song the entire cast sings together at the end — I don’t have words for how that felt. 🎻
Another of our actors is my former college professor whose class genuinely changed my life in ways I didn’t realize. He ran a Shakespeare program at Racine Correctional Facility for over a decade, bringing the Bard to people who needed it most — and in his classroom, we did the same, writing and then performing our skits with inmates at the correctional facility. He believed then, as I believe now, that theatre belongs to everyone. Finding him on this stage, in this company I built, feels like the universe completing a sentence it started over twenty years ago. 🌿
And then there’s a dear friend whose brother is one of my husband Dan’s oldest and closest friends — who I get to call my castmate. I just discovered that his late mom has a dedication brick at Kemper Center — the very place where we’ll perform. Some things are bigger than coincidence. ♥️
I am stage managing this production, music directing it, and performing in it — singing and playing alongside this extraordinary group of people. Life is full and hard and beautiful all at once — and this process has been my sanctuary.
Link in bio to reserve your free tickets!
Come find us in the forest. 🌿
#wildwoodtheatre #asyoulikeit #shakespeare #freetheatreforall #kenosha
OKAYYYY i’m finally making a formal post about this
for years i told my mom i was never having children… but all of that changed when my future daughter arrived at the puppy store i work at.
she was with us for nearly a month with no one truly interested in buying her, which allowed for some unintended bonding time for the two of us - whether it was holding her during my downtime, bathing/grooming her, and giving her a nickname: LAMBY (she has the fluffy build and the little leaps like a lamb). she started responding to the name since she’s super smart, and my coworkers thought it was funny whenever my family&friends would ask to hold “Lamby” without further explanation.
suddenly i was overcome with an interesting flavor of jealousy whenever customers would play with her. this was weird, i mean i’ve had many favorite puppies since i was hired in August, but this feeling about Lamby was different. eventually i was obsessively talking about her to everyone i knew. all my friends and loved ones were in the know about Lamby, and kept teasing me about buying her.
finally i clocked the fact that THIS WAS MY DOG!! i put her in the back cages to make sure no one saw and bought her until her price reduced the following week and i got my check. then i bought her without telling anybody except my closest friends.
eventually my family figured it out, and i told my boyfriend. they all love Lamby and have all made our transition so much easier.
so yes, i am now a proud mother. i cannot wait to see what the new year brings for my baby Lamby 🩷🐩🐾
🩸CARRIE— behind the scenes🩸
thank you to everyone involved. you all created a wonderful experience where i made more lovely friends 🩷 i hope to work on more shows with these talented folks in the future
“You ain’t seen nothing yet; it’s gonna be a night we’ll never forget.”
🩸CARRIE: THE MUSICAL🩸
Director: Mary MacDonald Kerr
Asst. Director: Amy Bates
Stage Manager: Sam Feiler
Scenic&Props Designer: Jody Sekas
Costume Designer: Misti Bradford
Lighting Designer: Savana Andershock
Sound Designer: Kevin Gray
Projections Designer: Petr William
Hair&Makeup Designer: Taylor Ireland
Dance Captain: Alyssa Ritacca
BEAUTIFUL photography by Petr William📸
