The Bridges of Madison County

Lol this was my Facebook banner for like 12.5 years w/o changing it.

I started getting involved in the local theater scene in St. Louis when I moved back here in 2018. After a little over a year in Birmingham, Alabama at Coastal Living Magazine, I’d taken a job at a marketing agency in St. Louis and was in search of a performing outlet. I had a few standup comedy open mic nights under my belt from Birmingham, but at the end of the day, I'm a theater kid at heart (derogatory).

My and my friend Chelsie made up this roving group of musicians.

So I started auditioning around town! After a few failed attempts, I connected with a director in Florissant who asked if I could help behind the scenes with a play she was directing and I said I’d love to help. I was cast in the next show she directed: The Bridges of Madison County, as Chiara and State Fair Singer.

The movie is probably what you’re most familiar with — Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood in the sweeping romance drama set in small-town Iowa. This stage adaption came from composer Jason Robert Brown, famous for driving, emotionally complicated relationship studies like The Last Five Years (hi Anna Kendrick, hi Jeremy Jordan).

The cast was so so talented and so so fun, and in true rom-fashion, the two leads were in a league of their own. I still get chills when I think about their performances to this day!

And fun fact, two of my friends who met on set ended up dating and are now married! I see them from time to time at shows.