Dani Girl

(Pictured are George Fulginiti-Shaker, Jenna Sokolowski, Michael John Casey, Gia Mora, and me)
Today was the reading of Dani Girl at the Kennedy Center's Family Theatre. I have had a wonderful time this past week working on this show with this fantastic cast of actors and the creative staff. This show was written by Christopher Dimond and Michael Kooman. It is about a little girl of 9 named Dani (Jenna Sokolowski)uses her creative imagination to escape and understand the harsh facts of her life. She is battling Cancer for the second time, and is on the quest to find out "Why is Cancer?"
She enlists the help of her imaginary friend Raph (Michael John Casey) and her hospital roommate, Marty (me)to aid her on her quest. Bringing her back into reality is her mother (Gia Mora), who would much prefer that she get more rest than use her imagination.
This is a smart and uplifting show, and the audience responded very well to it. I enjoyed being Marty, who is a movie buff (big stretch for me to play that, huh?) and escapes his own realities through the movies. Hmm? Maybe it's because I just closed Kiss of the Spider Woman, but that sounds a bit like Molina Jr., doesn't it?
There are other characters in the show, too. There is the late Sir Floppy McFloppersby, pictured below, whose memorial we see when the show opens.

There is also Mr. Fritz, the teddy bear. I loved this little bear so much. The actual physical bear is Christoper Dimond's Father's childhood teddy bear, and he wrote the song "Requiem for a Teddy Bear" looking at the bear. It describes him to a tee. That song in and of itself was so beautiful and sad. I cried every single time I heard it. Here is Mr. Fritz...

I know that the piece is moving on to San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater this summer. I hope that it comes back to the DC Metro Area sometime in the near future, as I loved the show!
This was the first year that I have ever done the New Visions/New Voices Festival, and if this year is any indication of the quality of the works done in it, then I can't wait to do it again next year!
Thanks to everyone at the Kennedy Center, and everyone in the cast. It was truly a great week!