"Life is like a game of craps, and the devil is playing with loaded dice!"

As you all know, Julianne is our resident actress. She started taking children's community acting classes when she was 6 years old and it has been her passion ever since. Rehearsals and performances are a big part of her life. And as the years have passed, tap classes, voice lessons and theatre courses at school have been added to the mix. I often find her to be rather giddy when she comes home from a call back or a particularly engaging and challenging rehearsal.

But this summer marked a first for her. She auditioned for and was cast in Centerpoint Legacy Theatre's production of "Guys and Dolls." All of her other shows up to this point have been school or children's community theatre type of productions. And though she did do "Power in His Touch" with me when she was 12...that wasn't a show associated with any particular theatre or arts council and was kind of an independent thing...not to mention the fact that she was doing it with her mom. To be cast in a production at Centerpoint Legacy Theatre is a bit bigger of a deal...so much more professional than anything she had done before. And it was just her, none of her normal theatre friends she has already done countless shows with.

Which meant in a big way her summer wrapped around rehearsals, and then by mid-August...performances. The show ran for four weeks and she was in the Monday-Wednesday-Friday cast. And she LOVED it! She was a "mission doll"...a Salvation Army type volunteer. It wasn't a huge part. But she bonded tight with all those guys and dolls in both casts, despite the differences in age (she was the youngest) and life circumstances.

Side note: Gary, my voice teacher and one of my best friends, was also in the show as Sky Masterson as well as serving as music director for the cast. He was absolutely terrific, of course...and it was incredibly fun to watch him on stage with Julianne!

By the time they finished the run, Julianne was two weeks into school and already deep into rehearsals for the high school musical "Les Miserables"...so it was with equal parts relief and sadness she said goodbye to her "Guys and Dolls" pals. But she is already looking forward to auditioning for other shows at Centerpoint Legacy Theatre in the future.