BACT Blogger Genevieve Interviews Ms. Nitpicker

     This week's blog is brought to you by special guest blogger Genevieve! Genevieve is nine and a half years old and in the fourth grade at Kensington Hilltop School. She attended her first live theater performance at three years old. She enjoyed it so much she has been returning regularly to most Bay Area Children’s Theatre performances. Genevieve also enjoys acting, particularly in musicals, playing the piano, writing, reading, traveling, and playing sports with her friends. She lives in Kensington with her parents and two younger siblings.
If you are age 9 and up and want to write a blog about your experience with BACT, email nina@bactheatre.org.

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     Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is the current show being put on by BACT. It is a play adapted from the book by Bernard Waber. The play was well done and I really liked it. The story and the scenery both stayed true to the book. Lyle did many tricks and he was a very entertaining gymnast. I liked how Ms. Primm was very prim. I liked Mr. Grumps, who really seemed evil. I loved the way thunder boomed and lightning flashed whenever he came into the room. He did a really funny glare that always made me laugh. Ms. Nitpicker was a good actor and I really liked it when she gossiped, “And then she said what I said that they said that she said…” I liked ALL the characters, but if I list them all, it would take up my whole page, and I don’t think that would be so good. I enjoyed the production because it was funny and it was a really sweet story.
     After the show, I interviewed Anna Smith; the actor who played Ms. Nitpicker, a chatty character who goes back and forth between the evil side and the nice side. Anna Smith lives in the Bay Area and started dancing around the age of three years old. She later started singing and then began acting at 10 years old. She has been in a LOT of plays, but between college and now, she has been in about fifteen. She played Mrs. Pinkerton, Pinkalicious’ mother, in last season’s production of Pinkalicious.
     Anna has been rehearsing for Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile since August, so it has been about five weeks. She didn’t know the story of Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, though many other of the actors in the play did. But as soon as she looked through the script she knew it would be super fun to put on, and she says it was! Anna felt very happy about getting the part of Ms. Nitpicker. She loves the way the character goes back and forth from Lyle’s side to Mr. Grumps’ side. Anna thinks that Ms. Nitpicker has a gossipy streak, and she’s really fond of her.
     If Anna could be in any play, she says it would be Into the Woods. That’s because she is co-directing it now. She watches the actors working, and it makes her want to act in the play. Coming up next, Anna will be taking on Mrs. Pinkerton in Pinkalicious again.
     I am really grateful to Anna Smith (or Ms. Nitpicker) for spending time with me. I’m also thankful for the wonderful people who put the whole play together and brought these fun characters to life.

Ms. Nitpicker (Anna Smith, right) dishes out the gossip with Mrs. Primm (Jessica Chisum, left)