Fairbanks Road Elementary School Second Grader, Jenna Keele, portrayed Tiny Tim in GEVA Theatre's production of "A Christmas Carol." Jenna, the daughter of John and Angela Keele of Ogden, shared her theater experience with her classmates in Mrs. Trippodo's room the week before Christmas. "Jenna brought the story alive for our class, even singing one of the songs from the show. We all learned from it and were impressed with her adult-sounding singing voice," Joyce Trippodo, second grade teacher, said. Trippodo read "A Christmas Carol" to her class, stopping periodically while Jenna related what happened in the GEVA production. Jenna described her costume and talked about how she had learned to walk wearing leg braces as part of the Tiny Tim character. The children were curious if Marley (Scrooge's ghostly partner) really wore chains and how did he rise up out of the floor. So Jenna explained and shared some other technical aspects of the show, such as how the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come was made giant-size yet still able to move around the stage, and the "magic" of the cemetery scene. "She even let us know that the actor playing Scrooge was actually a very nice person," Trippodo said. Jenna was "bitten by the theater bug," last year, according to her mom. She made her acting debut with a small role as a froglet in a children's theater production of "Honk!" For her next step to stardom she decided to audition for "A Christmas Carol" and to her family's surprise was cast as one of two Tiny Tims from a pool of around 200 other children. She missed several days of school and was out until 10 or 11 p.m. some nights for rehearsals. "Jenna wanted this part very much, so she had to work hard to keep up with the demands of her everyday life along with this added responsibility," says Trippodo. "She isn't 'tiny' in my eyes but instead is a great role model for her classmates to follow." |
