5 minute read
LOCAL TALENT
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 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 fi rst offi cial 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 while Amber was one of the Von Trapp children.
Amber’s fi rst 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 fi nally 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 selfconfi dence issues—what kid doesn’t? Honestly, the theater helped me overcome it.”
That self-confi dence helped her in other life situations too. She now does public speaking and fi nds 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.
AMBER JESSEE
THE FRAU IS IN THE HAUS
STORY: DEBBI KIDDY PHOTO: FRED LOPEZ
READ MORE ABOUT AMBER’S EXPERIENCES AS A MOONLIGHT PLAYER ON OUR WEBSITE AT LAKEANDSUMTERSTYLE.COM
Gregory Prevatt, CLTC, CFP®
Senior Vice President Portfolio Management Director Financial Advisor gregory.prevatt@morganstanley.com Nicole Silberstein
Client Service Associate nicole.silberstein@morganstanley.com Michael Monteith
Financial Planning Specialist Portfolio Manager Financial Advisor michael.monteith@morganstanley.com
The Lake Sumter Group at Morgan Stanley
832 Lake Sumter Landing, The Villages, FL 352.751.7845 • Toll free 800.447.6036 morganstanleyfa.com/LakeSumter
We proactively serve a select group of families with the distribution phase of their retirement by offering rigorous, relentless discipline seeking to bring a higher level of predictability.
How does your group achieve that?
With fi nancial planning tools and discretionary portfolio management, we build plans based on our client’s risk tolerance. As portfolio managers, we manage our clients’ portfolios on a daily basis and guide their objectives, which range from developing a health care strategy to attending to estate planning needs.
How do you help your clients achieve their objectives?
Focusing our attention on our clients’ fi nancial details means working toward their goal of living the lifestyle they have always envisioned. Having the resources in place to enjoy the next stage of their lives is important in achieving those goals. Perhaps they want to master a new language or travel to see family. Moving fi nancial worry away from the front of their minds can put big concerns to rest.
What specific strategies do you offer your clients?
Our focus is on fi nancial planning which includes retirement planning, retirement income planning, estate planning strategies, college education planning, custom portfolio management, long term care planning and life insurance planning.
What makes your group passionate about what you do?
Our clients have spent their working years building a legacy. We enjoy helping them build the next phase of their lives. Having an advisor who can walk that path with them can mean the difference between living, and enjoying, their retirement.
Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC offers insurance products in conjunction with its licensed insurance agency affi liates. This material is intended only for clients and prospective clients of the Portfolio Management program. It has been prepared solely for informational purposes only and is not an offer to buy or sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy or sell any security or other fi nancial instrument, or to participate in any trading strategy. The individuals mentioned as the Portfolio Management Team are Financial Advisors with Morgan Stanley participating in the Morgan Stanley Portfolio Management program. The Portfolio Management program is an investment advisory program in which the client’s Financial Advisor invests the client’s assets on a discretionary basis in a range of securities. The Portfolio Management program is described in the applicable Morgan Stanley ADV Part 2, available at www.morganstanley.com/ ADV or from your Financial Advisor. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC does not accept appointments nor will it act as a trustee but it will provide access to trust services through an appropriate third-party corporate trustee. Certifi ed Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. owns the certifi cation marks CFP®, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER and Federally registered CFP (with fl ame design) in the US. © 2015. Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC (“Morgan Stanley”), its affi liates and Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors or Private Wealth Advisors do not provide tax or legal advice. CRC 1386730 01/16
