I have been given the incredible opportunity to work hands on with Grace McCune and Jake Perrine in creating a movie on the daily life of students.
Grace McCune is a vocalist and musician who has traveled the country sharing her gifts who now has settled on Orcas Island. She has been my vocal coach since I was eight years old, and I have participated in all of her shows over the years, many of which she collaborated on with Jake Perrine. She has lead me down the path of discovering my voice and life as a performer.
Jake Perrine is a performer and sound engineer on Orcas Island who can tackle anything you throw at him. I first met Jake in a show titled “Enchanted Forest Cabaret; Fly Me To The Moon.” Since then, we have been in many more shows together, whether as fellow actors or with Jake and Grace directing the production. Jake also recorded, mixed, and mastered my first CD that I released in December titled, “Stormy Side Of The Moon.”
In this production, we are working with Orcas Island students ages 6 to 17. The kids are divided into multiple groups, including two choir classes, a theater class (taught by Perrine at the public school), a dance class (taught by Tiffany Loney at Salmonberry School), and a tap class (taught by Katie Zwilling). My role in the process involves assisting Grace and Jake in teaching the choir, handling administrative work, corralling the kids on filming days, and much more. I am learning a great deal about all the work that goes into putting on a show, or in this case, a movie.
The final product of this project will be a 30 to 45 minute long movie, full of singing, dancing, and acting. The movie, currently titleless, will be making its debut on June 3 at the Seaview Theater on Orcas Island, with a herd of young movie stars in tow. I cannot wait to see where this project goes and am so grateful to my lovely mentors for giving me this opportunity. I hope to learn more about all the pieces that go into putting a show like this together, along with how best to teach students music and dance, and I know that with McCune and Perrine, that is in my near future.
Stormy Hildreth