On the scene // LOCAL TALENT This is the third in our series of articles featuring talent from local theaters.
AMBER JESSEE THE FRAU IS
IN THE HAUS STORY: DEBBI KIDDY PHOTO: FRED LOPEZ
Moonlight Players Theater in Clermont is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Founded by Jan Sheldon, who is president emeritus, the theater has been a popular place ever since. Shows are sponsored by internationally known comic book artist George Perez, who performed in community theater productions in New York before moving to Florida. Future
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plans include increased seating as almost all shows are sold out now. Amber Jessee came to the Moonlight Players at age nine when she was in the first official show, “The Sound of Music.” Her mother Kathy worked with Jan, and invited Kathy to audition. “She said, ‘Kathy, you’d love it,’” Amber says, and Kathy did playing a nun
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while Amber was one of the Von Trapp children. Amber’s first audition was rough. All the little girls were lined up and asked to sing. “As it got closer and closer to me, I got more nervous. I looked at my mom and she gave me this great big smile and I choked! I started crying, but instead of crying and running away, I just kind of took a step back
from the line until I was at the backstage area,” Amber says. “I stayed backstage for the rest of the auditions. I wouldn’t come out.” Jan gave her a second chance, however, and she sang “Happy Birthday” on the phone, once again crying through it. “For the next two years, I think I cried through every audition until somewhere around 14 or 15, I didn’t cry anymore. It was a turning point. I got used to it,” she says. Amber says she finally realized she was having fun so auditions became easier. “After a while I started making some really good friends here. I was very shy and I had some selfconfidence issues—what kid doesn’t? Honestly, the theater helped me overcome it.” That self-confidence helped her in other life situations too. She now does public speaking and finds it easier to introduce herself when she’s in a new situation. “I don’t think I would have that without the theater,” Amber says. The Moonlight Players continues to be a “family affair.” Her mother directs productions, which Amber also recently began doing. But probably best of all, she met her husband of almost 11 years, Nathan, through the Moonlight Players.
READ MORE ABOUT AMBER’S EXPERIENCES AS A MOONLIGHT PLAYER ON OUR WEBSITE AT LAKEANDSUMTERSTYLE.COM
