Notre Dame’s musicals always feature a wide variety of students, and this year’s performance of Freaky Friday is no different.
Maame Asiamah and Amelia Chrudimsky, who have both been involved in the NDA theatrical program for four years, will play this year’s main characters, Ellie Blake and Katherine Blake.
Chrudimsky got involved in theater her freshman year but has loved performing her entire life.
Since freshman year she has participated in all four musicals and all four plays.
“My favorite part about theater is being able to step into the lives of characters who are so different from me and explore feelings and events that I may otherwise never get to experience,” explained Chrudimsky. “The stage allows me to be anyone and do anything.”
The senior is planning to study theater in college. She is looking forward to pursuing a bachelor’s degree in fine arts and hopefully performing for the rest of her life.
She is excited for her last musical performance. “I am most looking forward to having one more beautiful show with the amazing performers at this school and getting to share the stage with my best friend Maame Asiamah, who is playing Ellie.”
Asiamah has been doing theater since 6th grade. In high school, however, she started off on the stage crew for the musical her freshman year before joining the cast for the play later that year.
“My favorite part of theater is all the rehearsals that lead up to the final performance. I love being with the cast and working through the show every day,” she said.
Asiamah would like to study musical theater in college, but she will for sure do it as an extracurricular if she doesn’t.
This Freaky Friday cast also features some students like junior Mitchell Belongia who are still relatively new to the stage..
Similar to Asiamah, Belongia worked backstage during freshman year. During his sophomore year, he acted in his first musical. He has never been in a play at NDA but would like to in the future.
“My favorite part about theater is seeing everything come together at the end. I’m looking forward to seeing all the puzzle pieces get put in place,” said Belongia.
This will be the first theater performance for senior Sam Mach at NDA.
“The only theater experience I have before this year was when I was little in the Christmas shows at my grade school. I also remember taking a summer school drama class,” Mach explained.
Mach said she joined this year’s musical not only because she enjoyed Mrs. Gilson’s public performance class but also because Freaky Friday really piqued her interest.
Mach will be a dancer in this year’s musical. She is excited about this part because she has a background in dance.
“I am most looking forward to the relationships that I am going to form with the people I thought I would never be friends with or even get to know. I have already made some of these friendships and I look forward to more,” said Mach.
Students, staff, and community members are all encouraged to come to see NDA’s performances of the musical from January 23-26.
