Kayla Giterman as Annie with Gilligan as Sandy the dog. |
By ELLEN SCHUR BROWN
Editor, Family Section
Kayla Giterman of Twinsburg takes the stage in the title role of “Annie” at Twinsburg Youth and Community Theatre, through Feb. 14. Kayla finds that she and Annie, a depression-era orphan who finds a family, are “both adventurous and smart and have lots of friends.” But the daughter of Laura and Eric Giterman says she’s not as tough as the role she plays. “I talk like I’m tough to Miss Hannigan. I say the lines how Annie would say them.”
Ten-year-old Kayla also likes that she’s playing an “older” girl (Annie is 11!), says her mother, who plays a maid and a homeless person in the ensemble.
The Agnon 5th-grader got her first big show-business break with Playmakers Youth Theatre at age 5. “The first time I was onstage I was really shy. I wasn’t acting; I was just saying the lines,” says Kayla, who has appeared in “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Guys and Dolls” and other shows at Playmakers Performing Arts Camp.
Working with adults is a little different from a Playmakers show, she observes. “The adults take it more seriously,” she says, and there’s less clowning around.
Kayla liked training Gilligan, the dog who plays Sandy, but she doesn’t so much like wearing the signature red curly wig. “It’s very painful and itchy, and the bobby pins stick me.”
While she gets top billing within the family and in plays, Kayla gives the stage over to her parents at Congregation Shir Shalom: Her father is president, and her mother is the cantorial soloist leading services.
For tickets and showtimes, www.twinsburgrecreation.com.
Kayla’s Favorites:
Fav. books: Harry Potter series
Fav. websites: webkinz and Wizard101
Fav. hobbies: Playing piano, ice skating
Fav. Jewish activity: Family reunions with cousins from Florida, Israel and everywhere else
