If anyone can relate to Matilda Wormwood, it’s Izzy Neisen, a Kennedy Community School fifth grader. Izzy is an avid reader just like Matilda, the eponymous character in Roald Dahl’s famous book, as she discovered while auditioning for the lead role in Great Theatre‘s production of “Matilda.”
Izzy has been doing theater camps since she was three years old. Every year, she and her mom review the available camps Great Theatre has to offer over the summer months as well as what’s on the docket for other local productions that she might be able to audition for in the coming year.
“It’s always been my dream to be in an actual performance,” says Izzy. “[But] when I saw Matilda … I almost didn’t audition for it. I didn’t know who Matilda was. And then I heard it was [with] a lot of kids. I thought that was really cool. When it was almost time, I ended up wanting to and did the hard work.”
She is comfortable in auditions, but only because she knows she’ll do a lot of work ahead of time to prepare. It takes weeks, in fact, if you’re auditioning for one of the leading roles. For “Matilda,” Izzy had more work than usual.
“For Great, we had to sign up for an audition time,” explains Kelly Neisen, Izzy’s mom. “They had little snippets of dialogue that they had to learn. And in the case of “Matilda,” there was a song they had to learn as well. Later, they posted a dance.”
After Izzy auditioned for the role, she anxiously waited for the callback list to be posted. She was excited to find her name on that list. In the callback round, Izzy had to do things a little more impromptu on stage.
“They gave us some papers that we had to learn on the spot,” Izzy remembers. “And then I did it with other people that were called back.”
Does she get nervous at auditions? The answer is an emphatic, “Yes!”
But Izzy’s hard work and efforts paid off.
From mid-November until January, Izzy rehearsed three days a week with the other cast members of the “Matilda” production. There were several weekends in the mix as well. Izzy learned a lot of lines and performed two solos in addition to the other songs and dancing. She practiced at home with her mom when she wasn’t at rehearsal.
Performing as Matilda wasn’t just about the lines, blocking, dancing or singing, however. She learned a lot about other aspects of theater as well.
“I ended up actually doing my own makeup,” grins Izzy. “When I saw all the costumes on everybody, I was just like, ‘Wow! All the show is now coming together.’ It just amazed me.”
Izzy admits being nervous on opening night, right up to the point that she walked on stage.
“That’s what usually happens,” she says. “Right when I walk on stage, it all just disappears. [When it’s all over] it feels really good. It feels really cool and [I] feel really important.”
The experience of performing a leading role on stage has been memorable for her. She’s made a lot of new friends with the cast and crew of “Matilda” and has had such an amazing time that her school friends are now interested in theater.
There is no doubt Izzy wants to continue doing theater. Each year, Kelly asks if she wants to do summer theater camps, and without hesitation, Izzy’s answer is always a yes! Acting is something she wants to continue to do when she’s grown-up.
“Now that I’ve been a main character, everything is just like way more fun!”
We think Izzy might be channeling a little Matilda in her future: “Never do anything by halves!”
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