Kara Blogs: My Interview with Piggie aka Anna Smith

Actor Anna Smith and BACT Blogger Kara

BACT Blogger Kara had the chance to interview Anna Smith, who plays a Squirelle in Elephant & Piggie's WE ARE IN A PLAY! She is also the understudy for Piggie, and Kara was able to see Ms. Smith perform this title character.

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The play Elephant and Piggie's: We Are in a Play! is based on the books written by Mo Willems. The character of Elephant worries frequently and has a lot of emotion, but Piggie is more carefree and is good at calming Elephant down. Elephant and Piggie like to play together with their toys, share ice cream and play with their friends the Squirelles. After I saw the play I interviewed Ms. Anna Smith who plays Piggie and a Squirelle.

Ms. Anna Smith is the understudy of Ally Johnsen and when Ally Johnsen is there Ms. Anna Smith plays a Squirelle. Ms. Anna Smith did her first play when she was ten. When she told me she taught an after school drama program I wanted to learn how to write a play too. Her favorite parts about playing Piggie are spending lots of time with her friend Derek, who plays Gerald, the worrisome elephant and having exciting, exquisite interaction with the audience. She made the audience say “banana,” do the wiggle waggle and clap their hands. Her favorite part about being a Squirrelle is getting more time to rest and watching Ally Johnsen play Piggie. Also, she likes adding character to make her Squirelle to stand out because unlike Piggie you don’t know much about the Squirelles. The hardest part about being an understudy was trying to learn both parts at the same time. Anna Smith is making her fifth debut with BACT. She was also in Pinkalicious, A Year with Frog and Toad, Lyle the Crocodile and The Day the Crayons Quit. She likes all of the parts she has played equally but playing Piggie is exciting for her because the audience likes to see the character in the book come alive. For fun she likes to play electric guitar, ukulele and an instrument that’s like a dulcimer. Anna Smith’s advice for future actors is to have as much fun as you can no matter what part you get.

Anna Smith (center) as a Squirelle, along with Debra Harvey (left) and Aly Casas (right)

My favorite part of the play was when Gerald was going to share his ice cream with Piggie but it melted. Then Piggie shared her ice cream with Gerald. They sing a song about Gerald being the ice cream hero and he is really sad when he realizes the ice cream is melted, but Piggie ends up being the ice cream hero. Another one of my favorite parts is when the audience repeats saying “banana”, doing the wiggle waggle and clapping their hands at the same time. I was in the group that said “banana.” The moral of the story is friends always stick together.