BWW Interviews: Michaela Coplen of Allenberry Playhouse and Conservatory

It's rare to see someone walking out of high school with a 36-production resume under their belt - much less with a minimum of five professional stage credits and some professional off-stage credits as well. But then, most young adults aren't Michaela Coplen. Recently cast as Lori Beth in the Allenberry Playhouse production of Happy Days, Coplen is one of the few people who's applied to be in their high school play by sending in their CV and head shot.

Currently in a summer workshop at Carnegie Mellon University for students interested in musical theatre careers, Michaela took some time to talk to us about how she came to the stage early. The daughter of two military officers, her mother an active duty colonel serving at the Army War College in Carlisle and her father a retired lieutenant colonel teaching at the War College, her six years at Actors Professional Theatre Conservatory aren't the usual track record for someone who spent their youth being moved from base to base, but Coplen, again, isn't the usual young adult.

She was born in Kansas City, moved to Germany at six months, "and I don't remember a bit of it. There are these fabulous pictures of Baby Michaela in Germany."

BW: Traveling around like that grows you up fast.

MC: That's true. And my mother was deployed a lot while I was young.

I'm also a writer, and I've written a lot about the Army experience. I won a Scholastic "Best of 2012" award for non-fiction. I've won a gold medal in the 2013 Scholastic poetry competition and I'm a semifinalist in the Student Poet Laureate competition. I'd like to move into play writing at some point. I've entered the Carnegie Mellon pre-college musical theatre program, and play writing is one of the classes they offer. It's a six-week program on the CMU campus. You study writing, movement, auditioning, everything. At the end of it you get to audition for the school itself.

BW: Carnegie Mellon has a very fine musical theatre program - but why Carnegie Mellon in particular? Why not Shenandoah Conservatory or Penn State?

MC: I'm really academically minded. I have a 4.0 GPA. My parents are academic too. A lot of conservatory programs aren't academic.

Penn State's program is a little too close to home. Carnegie Mellon is my dream school, but I'll go wherever takes me. Carnegie Mellon is far enough away for me to be independent, but I've got roots now.

BW: Casey Weems, who's in Happy Days with you is also a writer, and a recent Western Carolina graduate.

MC: Yes. We share a dressing room; we've talked. That's a good program too. It's possible.

BW: Tell us about the APTC conservatory program you've done.

MC: It's a really nurturing environment for a young artist who wants to work as hard as they can. The staff at Allenberry bring in a lot of different perspectives. I was an intern at Allenberry last year so I've been on both sides of the camper-counselor divide. I've learned from the students, too. I guess I learned that in order to teach you have to present information in a number of different ways. Everyone's got a different type of learning. Sometimes music, for instance, needs visual imagery. And you learn patience. I was a houseparent for the one-week program last year, so I also learned to drink Red Bull. I think it's the official drink of APTC staff. The kids expect us to be high-energy all the time so we have to be able to give that to them!

BW: What's the program like?

MC: It's a lot, and it's fast, and it's fun. Whenever I've gone in, I've thought, "I've got to work as hard as I can for as long as I can." Last year my mantra was "you can sleep when you're dead." The program is immersion, so you're totally surrounded by theatre.

BW: So, what got you interested in theatre, and how early?

MC: My parents are Army, my sister's an ROTC cadet - I had no relation to theatre as a child. But when we first drove into Fort Campbell, we drove past the Roxy Regional Theatre. The lights were on, on the marquee, and I said, "Mommy, I want to be a part of that." I was only seven, but my mother signed me up anyway. The director made it clear that he wasn't happy to see me. He told me to sit in the corner, but at some point I jumped into the read-through.

My first part was Burt in ALL MY SONS. I didn't play a girl on stage until I was thirteen because I didn't have any curves! [Laughs.] My first part as a girl was as Mulan in MULAN JR. That was at The Youth Theatre in Carlisle. I don't think it exists any more. By the time Carlisle's community theatre happened, I was already at APTC. I did BEAUTY AND THE BEAST at the Carlisle theatre but I haven't been back since.

BW: When did you decide you wanted this as a career?

MC: I did all along, but I didn't know it could be a career until I was a little older. At 8 and 9 when I was at the Roxy, I'd just gotten through that stage of wanting to be everything - a supreme court justice, a helicopter pilot like my mother, everything. But in theatre, you can be everything! It was at APTC I started thinking about going to school for it. The Allenberry crowd has been so helpful in helping me through that process.

BW: You're in Happy Days now - what other shows have you done at Allenberry?

MC: I was in THE SOUND OF MUSIC as an ensemble member last summer, and I've done two Christmas shows - I was the child elf. And I was in last summer's children's show, THE LION (WHO WOULD BE) KING.

BW: There are three parts to musical theatre: acting, singing, and dancing. Where on that spectrum do you see yourself?

MC: I'm an actor, primarily, but I have the most training in singing. I've had limited chances to take dance in the past - I have to do that once I'm in a college program. When we moved around a lot there was always a theatre where I could work on my acting, but no one wanted to teach me dance for three months at a time. I need to work on it. There's dancing in Happy Days I'm trying to keep up with but I'm not CATS material for a while. Maybe when I finish college.

BW: What's your favorite part so far?

MC: At last count, I've done 36 productions! But this spring I was Adelaide in GUYS AND DOLLS at my school, and Penny Wise in URINETOWN at APTC. I was Rosie Alvarez in BYE, BYE BIRDIE at my high school, and Lucy in YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN at APTC. Those are favorites, but there's been so many!

BW: You were still doing your high school shows while you've been working professionally. What's that been like at school?

MC: I try not to bring it up. I don't want to be that person in the cast. We've got a new music and choir director who gave us forms to fill out for the school play asking about our prior experience, and I brought in my head shot and CV. I don't think he expected that! [Laughs] But I got the part.

Tech week for Happy Days was finals week at school. That was almost too much, but I survived. I figured, if that couldn't kill me, nothing will. There was Red Bull consumed.

Then there's the parts I'd like to do. Not during finals, though! I've always wanted to do WEST SIDE STORY. I'm Mexican-American so I feel that. I'd do any part in it. Eponine in LES MIS. Is that too teen-theatre-girl of me? She's such a great character. My high school might be doing AIDA next year - I fancy myself as Aida though I doubt it would happen in the real world. But I'm in love with the music from it right now.

Photo courtesy of Michaela Coplen

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