"Like A Transfusion": Stepping back into the spotlight

A movie poster of Come Blow Your Horn starring Frank Sinatra. Featured right is Jill St. John as Peggy.

BY JESSACA WILFORD

Peggy Evans

It’s kind of a funny story how I got involved in this show but let’s rewind a couple of years. I have been involved in theatre since I was 13 years old. Theatre was my outlet from everything. I decided to go to Gloucester County Institute of Technology for theatre. So I spent my high school year immersed in it and never really did anything else. 

In the summer of 2007, I met someone who introduced me to Off Broad Street Players. I auditioned for Beauty and the Beast, was cast for the ensemble, and loved every minute of it! I stayed with OBSP for the next year. At the same time, I was still actively involved in GCIT’s theatre department. At one point I was doing three shows at once. It got to be too much for me. Some people can handle it but I couldn’t. 

I had spent my whole high school career portraying other people I never really got to figure out who I was. So when I graduated high school I decided I was done with theatre for the time being.

Fast-forward to March 12, 2010…

My phone rings. 

I answer. 

It’s Walter Webster. 

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Me come out for a show?! After two years off? I didn’t think I still had it. I was scared out of my mind. But another part of me told me I was ready. I needed to get back to the thing I love, the thing that I truly missed. I said yes and here I am.

So far the rehearsal process has been great! I was able to jump right back on the horse…as my mom put it. I think I’m doing pretty well. During the first read, it all started coming back. Things that I didn’t even know I knew, I was thinking of. Everything I thought I had lost was suddenly in the forefront of my mind again. It was like I never left! It was a though I had done it yesterday. I think that’s what made it ok. I mean what made me not run out of the room screaming. At first I was a little timid, but I knew I could do it. Everyone was so encouraging so that helped a lot.

Peggy. Mmmhhhh Peggy. She is so fun. She is like the best character to play after my break. So carefree and flirty. Two things which I am not. I think that’s why I like her so much. She comes off as dumb but she knows what she is doing. It is such a release to just get in her head and toy around with things. The accent is coming along but it is taking time to perfect. 

The other night I was talking to my best friend and she was like “Jess, you sound so weird. What is wrong with your voice?” here I had slipped in some Peggy and she was not used to it. Ha it was funny! I love it and am so excited with the way things are panning out!

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Jessaca Wilford is a student at Cumberland County College and a graduate of Gloucester County Institute of Technology where she studied theater. She has been featured in "Beauty and the Beast," "Jesus Christ Superstar," and "South Pacific" and notably with GCIT in "Once Upon a Mattress."