The Friday 5(+1) on Wednesday: The Cast of Street Theatre Company's ORDINARY DAYS

Nashville's Street Theatre Company begins its residency at The Barbershop Theatre this weekend with their production of Ordinary Days, running March 17-April 1. Today, the musical's four castmembers - Angela Madaline-Johnson, Sachiko Nicholson, Grant Weathington and Alan Smith - take on our Friday 5(+1) questions to offer you some insight and to tell you why they think you should come see their show.

Tickets are $20 each and are available at www.streettheatrecompany.org or at the door. The Barbershop Theatre is located at 4003 Indiana Avenue.

Angela Madaline-Johnson (Claire):

What was your first live onstage taste of theater? My mother took me to see the first national tour of Les Miz, for my tenth birthday, when it toured through my hometown of Philadelphia. It had several original cast members - Colm Wilkinson, Laurie Beechman (who I later found out my mother graduated high school with!). I will never forget the chills I got from the opening chords of the overture, and how tears sprang to my eyes. It is one of my fondest memories and is one of the most impactful experiences of my life.

What is your favorite preshow ritual? Preshow routines are pretty important for me - I battle fairly intense performance anxiety, so I've had to find some ways to help keep it at bay, so I can still get onstage and perform. I've found that stretching my body and really sinking down into my hips and lower back, helps to loosen me up, as I'm very tense when my anxiety kicks into high gear. I also pray before each performance, often as I'm preparing to walk on-stage. I've found that the combo of these rituals - physical and spiritual, really helps me to relax enough to get out of my own head and into character.

What's your most memorable the show must go on moment?I did a summer stock production of West Side Story in New Hampshire, going into my junior year of college. I was in the ensemble, playing one of the Shark girls, and another cast member inadvertently pulled my shoulder out of its socket in the middle of the dream ballet! This occurred seconds before a section of choreography where the whole cast had to raise our arms very slowly over our heads - there was an abrupt music and light shift during this choreo, making it a very dramatic moment, and the arm that was hurt was the one that had to go up. I had managed to pop it back into place quickly, but the nerves were all stunned, and I could not move it. Being a shorter cast member, I was front and center for this section. I pulled my arm about halfway up with my other arm, before i realized how stupid it would actually look if I did manage to get it up above my head. I kind of held it there until the moment was over, and then continued to dance the ballet with one dead arm until I got to a place where I was close enough to the wings to exit without being noticed. Needless to say, I did not complete the matinee that day. I actually had to go home two days later and have surgery before returning to college a few weeks later!

What is your dream role? I've had so many dream roles over the years...and I've had the privilege of playing a few of them. Right now, I don't have one particular dream role, but a few that I'm burning to play would be Diana in Next to Normal, Mama Rose in Gypsy, Heidi Hansen in Dear Evan Hansen and any character in Come From Away.

Who is your theatrical crush? There are SO many famous and local actors whose work I adore, so this is a hard one! But I think my biggest theatrical crush is likely Katrina Lenk. That woman just inhabits every character I've seen her play. She's so committed and such a stellar actress.

Why should people come see ORDINARY DAYS? People should come see this show for a bunch of reasons: #1-It's not performed often and it's got great songs in it. #2- It's Street Theatre Co.'s first production as the resident theatre company of The Barbershop Theater! #3- It's a "feel good" story about super relatable characters. I believe we can learn about ourselves by watching other people's stories, and this is a great opportunity to do that - getting a front row glimpse into the thoughts and feelings of four dynamic, funny, sincere characters.

SACHIKO NICHOLSON (Deb)

What was your first live onstage taste of theater? My first live onstage taste of theater was a production of Beauty and the Beast at my hometown summer theatre.

What is your favorite preshow ritual? My favorite preshow is ritual double high fiving everyone in the cast and crew before the start of the show and saying "Break legs!"

What's your most memorable the show must go on moment? My most memorable show must go on moment was when I tripped and fell on stairs leading up to the stage while running...but I made it on stage so it's ok! In my own defense, I was like five-years-old.

What is your dream role? My dream role is Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd.

Who is your theatrical crush? My theatrical crush is Randy Craft...

Why should people come see ORDINARY DAYS? People should come see Ordinary Days because it is a good reminder that there is beauty in every small thing in life even when you feel like you can't see it. There is joy and a lesson in everything you experience throughout life. Seeing the characters in this show struggle with things that are just as real as issues in our own lives is comforting and makes you realize that no one goes through life alone.

GRANT WEATHINGTON (Warren)

What was your first live onstage taste of theater? My first taste of theater was when I saw Annie with my mom at the Fox Theater in Atlanta at the age of six!

What is your favorite preshow ritual? I will generally meditate backstage in the most secluded area I can find.

What's your most memorable the show must go on moment? Probably when I was in Into The Woods and we lost the Witch's nose and ended up having to mold a new one out of children's modeling clay AND THEN it melted off of her face halfway through the show.

What is your dream role? This might end up sounding sooo cheesy, but I don't really have one. My favorite roles to play are the ones that I am not familiar with, it make the process of learning the character more fun for me.

Who is your theatrical crush? RANDY CRAFT.

Why should people come see ORDINARY DAYS? To me, Ordinary Days is all about loving our lives for what they are and not wishing them away, stepping back and realizing that life is such a beautiful gift and it would be a shame to go a waste it. This has easily been my favorite show to work on that I have ever done and I hope that everyone will come to see Ordinary Days so that I can share my love for it with them!

Alan Smith (Jason)

What was your first live onstage taste of theater? I played the titular role in my high school's production of Rumplestilzkin.

What is your favorite preshow ritual? What happens backstage stays backstage.

What's your most memorable the show must go on moment? When Nashville flooded in 2010, the closing weekend of Street's 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee was canceled. The entire cast and crew reunited almost a month later to give that show the send-off it deserved.

What is your dream role? Fruma Sarah.

Who is your theatrical crush? David Mamet.

Why should people come see ORDINARY DAYS? FOMO or peer pressure. Your choice.

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