Broadway Star Visits Our Library

Actress Isabel Keating, currently co-starring in the Broadway musical,  Spider-Man--Turn off the Dark ( she plays Peter Parker's Aunt May) joined 2nd graders and 5th graders from S.T.A.R. Academy for a dramatic reading of "Jack in the Beanstalk" and "Jack the Giant Killer" (respectively). The occasion was Read Across America, an annual celebration around literacy, to commemorate the birthday of Dr. Seuss.  After the reading came a Q&A with the actress.  Second graders came prepared with great questions, such as "do you get nervous before you go onstage? (the answer is "yes"); "Do you have a stunt double" (in theater it's called an understudy); and "When was your first performance," to which Ms. Keating told us that is was when she was in kindergarten (she had to hold up a sign), and then, in sixth grade, a speaking part.  Fifth graders showed their impressive knowledge of the Spider-man story and characters.  We learned that one of the most important skills for being an actor is reading (and re-reading!).