"I'd done stuff like box office at the Forest Theatre, but since Julie (Hughett) called and asked if I would work on M BUTTERFLY, I've started doing on my own the things Julie used to do with me just helping. It's really exciting. I do phone sales and, of course, deal with door sales too - those are the tickets people just walk in and buy at the box office instead of ordering in advance by phone or having season tickets. I'm more independent now and can work by myself. It feels great!"

This bubbly high school junior has had two mentors who have sparked her enthusiasm for theatre. One is Kathy Jacobs, Seaside High School's drama teacher and wife of M.BUTTERFLY's Michael Jacobs. The other is the Iowa grandmother who started it all by taking the eight-year-old CarolAnn to see ANNIE.

"It was a theatre somewhere near Burlington, where I used to live. Well! I fell in love with that show! I wanted to BE Annie! Then we went to Chicago to see BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, the same show Pacific Rep is going to be doing in August and September. My grandmother doesn't actually appear on the stage, but she holds these parties where there's some kind of theme. Like these mystery parties, where you invite people, and each one is assigned a part, and then you play your character in this mystery story."

The childhood dreams were thanks to her grandmother. The summer work at Pac Rep is thanks to Kathy Jacobs. "The end of my freshman year, she said if we were looking for a summer job, why not call Pacific Rep - so I did. I went in for an interview with Julie, and at first it didn't work out; they ending up hiring someone else. But then she asked if I'd be willing to do some volunteer work - and I said ‘of course!’ So I went in to tear tickets and fold programs and stuff like that. After I did that for a few times, she asked if I wanted to work there as an employee - and of course, I said ‘yes’ to that."

"I love acting - my heart is always in that more than anything else - and so I'm now going to be in GREASE for the Forest Theater Guild in May." Kathy Jacobs steered CarolAnn in that direction too. "For my audition, I did a monologue from THE EFFECT OF GAMMA RAYS ON MAN-IN-THE-MOON MARIGOLDS - the part where Tillie is talking about how she first learned about the atom. For my song I just did something we sing at church called 'Angels.' I go to Unity Church of Monterey Bay. I'm quite active with the youth group. We have talent shows, but we don't actually do any plays there.

"It's exciting getting to know one particular theatre really well - the system - the process - the layout of the auditorium... I hadn't realized till I did this work with M BUTTERFLY that it's been several years, and I'm really feeling very comfortable with the job."

When CarolAnn goes to college it will probably be Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, and if so, she'll major in photography. But if she decides on a different college with a really good drama program, she admits the photography could change to a course involving theatre. "It's still up in the air and undecided, so I'm asking my drama teacher a lot of questions."

Her parents, Martisa and Christopher Light of Seaside, are strongly supportive of CarolAnn's interest in theatre. "They’re always wanting me to do more out on stage. But I'm not sure. I think I prefer behind the scenes. Anyway, we'll see."

M BUTTERFLY she has found "amazing." It's one of the most serious plays I've ever seen. I like the story; it's kind of tragic, and it's kind of a weird feeling, having more of a personal relationship with those people up there on stage. You get to know them as people, and then they take on these whole different personalities in the show... I have a really deep admiration for actors - all performers of any kind, really. So much of their heart is in what they do."