Cochrane starlet Maddie Poirier-Dixon will be returning to the stage next week.
The Grade 6 student recently got her foot in the door of the acting/theatre community and since then has made a successful start toward a potential career.
“I started acting about a year ago. I did a bit of theatre but I decided I liked being in front of cameras way more,” Dixon said.
One of her most recent accomplishments was guest starring in multiple episodes of the TV show Hell on Wheels playing Janie Strobridge. She also recently finished production on a made-for-TV movie, The Night Pond, a Christmas movie about a magic hockey rink. Poirier-Dixon plays Roxie Whiteside, the sister of the main character.
“Hell on Wheels was an amazing experience, Anson (Mount) was the nicest man ever. Everyone was just so nice,” said the 10-year-old.
Now the young actress is trying her hand at the theatre again to round out her experience. She is one of five leads in Imagine Performing Art’s Dreams of Broadway production at Mount Royal University.
“My mom always thought I was really outgoing so we tried everything performing arts-related as possible but I think theatre helps a lot,” Dixon explained.
Dreams of Broadway is a mix between a musical and a musical review. According to the show’s director, Darryl Lindenbach, it all came together in a “backwards way” and is a “rollercoaster ride of life in musical theatre”.
“Typically you have a script, it’s been done a lot of times, you do casting to find the people right for the part, and then you rehearse the show and put it together. In this case, we did our casting, we found some great performers, and then out of our long list of about 150 songs, we chose the songs that we thought best reflected the cast,” Lindenbach explained.
It features Broadway classics dating back 80 years and ties in a unique storyline about the theatre community. Lindenbach said they tried to put the focus on the people, rather than the music.
“The production is about a bunch of people putting on a show. So the first song, There’s No Business like Show Business, is actually at auditions. It sets the stage there right to the last song, which is out of Wicked, which is at the end of last day of tech week. So the show never really opens,” Lindenbach said.
Dixon found it “both hard and easy” to learn the songs she sings for the production, but said she did recognize a few. Alongside acting and singing she will have to perform choreography during the show.
Lindenbach was amazed at how professional Dixon was during her audition.
“Maddie came in and honestly did one of the more professional auditions that I’ve seen in the past 25 years. This is a good lesson for kids out there about commitment and drive and getting what you want … she has made the decision that she is going to work and she is going to put the effort in to be as good as she can be.”
He said while the cast of the production is admittedly younger than who he is used to working with, he is amazed at how talented everyone is.
“In this case, we had a much younger cast than I’m used to working with. At least half of our cast are kids – half of the 27 in the show,” Lindenbach said.
“I think people will be surprised at what our young people can do. I think it’s easy to view kids as the output we see from school concerts, where if they get out on stage and don’t wave at their parents too much, and get some of the moves maybe right then it’s a success. We put some really difficult stuff onto these kids and they’re coming through really well.”
Dixon is excited for all her hard work to pay off and to be back in the spotlight again. She has been attending three rehearsals a week since she auditioned in November 2015 and has been working hard to balance that commitment with school.
“I’m just really excited to see how it’s all put together,” Dixon said.
Dreams of Broadway will be performed in the Wright Theatre at Mount Royal University in Calgary. For more information about the production or to purchase tickets, visit http://musicandplay.ca/dreams-of-broadway/.
