Amber Kirk is only four years old but her mom thinks she may be destined for the theatre stage.
“She’s always been very dramatic,” Sarah Kirk said. “She has a flair for singing in public and she makes up her own stories and she’ll tell her own stories to anyone who will listen.”
Sarah has a background in theatre herself, so when she heard of an open casting call at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary, she thought it would be fun for her daughter to try out.
So too, did about 47 other parents who also brought their pint-sized performers to audition for a role in the Broadway musical Waitress when it comes to town in November.
“As part of the national tour of Waitress, we go to every city that we’re going into for a week and we have auditions to cast the role of Lulu locally in each city,” said auditions director Susanna Wolk.
“They’ve got to be really kind of centred. Calm. They have to learn the material quickly and be able to take direction and kind of understand the story they’re part of telling,” she said.
Wolk is looking for two girls aged four or five to share the role of Lulu.
Waitress tells the story of Jenna, a waitress and expert pie baker, who finds herself stuck in an unhappy and loveless marriage. Jenna channels all of her emotions and feelings into making elaborate pies but it’s through her child, Lulu, that she finds the courage to make a big change in her life.
Lulu doesn’t appear until the final scene of the play but Wolk says she is the centre of attention for the “whole final sequence.”
“It’s this really celebratory moment on stage when Lulu comes out and kind of the cherry on top for the whole show,” she said.
WATCH: Sara Bareilles on her musical ‘Waitress’
Wolk said she expects to make her decision on who will play Lulu in the next seven to 10 days.
Waitress hits the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium stage Nov. 19 to 24.