Cassondra Davies
Cassondra Davies has been at Hampton Roads Academy for 13 years and joined the theatre department in sixth grade, starting her HRA theatre career as a royal wife in the Upper School's production of The King and I. Since then, she has been in nine productions at HRA and has portrayed characters such as Beth March in Little Women, Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel, Hodel in Fiddler on the Roof, Elizabeth Benning in Young Frankenstein, and more. During her summers, she has attended numerous programs including the Torggler Summer Vocal Institute, the Virginia Regional Governor's School Summer Program for voice, and ArtsBridge for classical voice. Offstage, she has been a part of many organizations such as the Virginia Children's Chorus for ten years and has performed in many concerts such as Mahler's Eighth Symphony with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, the Fauré Requim, and Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols. She is also an active member in the Cum Laude Society, Mu Alpha Theta Math Honors Society (two years), the Tri-M Music Society (five years), and the Honor Council (four years; co-president this year). She has studied piano and theory for nine years in the studio of Juilliard graduate Teresa Compos Falk where she has played numerous classical compositions from Bach to Beethoven to Rachmaninov. In college, she plans on pursuing a duel degree in an academic field and classical vocal performance. Cassondra is thrilled to watch her composition, Dear Juliet, come to life and has loved working with such talented women in the cast. She would like to thank her mother and father for their unwavering support and guidance, both musically and academically; her piano teacher, Teresa Compos Falk; her vocal teacher, Billye Brown Youmans; Arkady Heifetz; the cast of Dear Juliet; and all the wonderful people who helped make this show possible.
Alexandria Grigsby
During the school talent show in third grade, Alexandria was "bit by the singing and performing bug" as her mom likes to say, and her passion for singing has only grown since then. She has been in 14 productions at Hampton Roads Academy in addition to several one act shows. Her HRA theatre career began with her first production as the March Hare in Alice in Wonderland during fifth grade, where she truly fell in love with being onstage. Among her many shows at HRA, Stagelights, Backstage, and Williamsburg Players, some favorites include Igor in Young Frankenstein, Chava in Fiddler on the Roof, and Helen Burns in Jane Eyre. in which she was grateful to be nominated by the AltDaily Theatre Awards for Best Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Musical. In addition to school productions and local theatre, Alexandria has been an active member in the Tri-M Music Honors Society, serving as an officer for three years, currently as the Co-President. Since freshman year, she has been an avid member of HRA Chorus, where she participated in District Chorus for three years and was selected as a Soprano I Delegate for All-Virginia last year. Music has been and hopefully always will be a part of her life, and after seeing and performing in many cabarets in the past, she is so excited to be in charge of one herself. Alexandria is also so happy to be a part of such an emotional musical as Dear Juliet and to have a final show on the stage with some of her best friends. She wants to thank everyone in the entire theatre department for giving her a home since fifth grade. Alexandria plans to major in Musical Theatre/Acting in college and hopes to turn it into a career! She wants to thank her vocal coach, Mrs. Patricia Ricciarelli; chorus director, Mrs. Robin Steinberger; and her acting teacher/director, Mrs. Kate Goddin. They have all helped her voice and acting grow so much. But mostly she would like to thank her parents for all their constant love and support. In Alexandria's words, "The stage is the one place you can be anyone you want to be, including yourself."
Sarah Helpinstill
Sarah Helpinstill is a relative newcomer to theatre, joining in her sophomore year as an ensemble member in Hampton Roads Academy's Upper School production of Fiddler on the Roof; nonetheless, she found a deep love for theatre and decided to continue the HRA productions, participating in the one acts her junior year. She notes her most memorable roles as Marci from Almost, Maine and Sophie from Mamma Mia. Outside of theatre Sarah is active in the Tri-M Music Honors Society, a fifth-year member and an officer, as well as the National French Honors Society and Mu Alpha Theta, a math honors society; through these societies, Sarah has been able to pursue tutoring of younger students, in which she holds a passion. She has also held a passion for psychology since she was young and enrolled in a week-long residential psychology camp at Gettysburg College to hone her knowledge; this is what helped shape her idea for her aspect of the joint senior project, Dear Juliet. For her aspect, Sarah has pursued research into color, stage lighting, and the psychology along with it; specifically, she has researched the emotions that color can create and how this is used in both Almost, Maine and Dear Juliet. Her research culminated in a 15 page research paper. In college, Sarah plans to study psychology to ultimately become a physical therapist or a nurse. Sarah would like to thank her parents for all their continued love and support, Mr. Mark Bzdick for all his efforts and help in training her voice, Mrs. Kate Goddin and Mrs. Elizabeth Rous for their insight and guidance, and her fellow actresses in Dear Juliet for giving her the opportunity to share Abigail's story!
Jill Shoemaker
Jill Shoemaker (Director/Tessa) found her love for performing in community theatre at age ten and hasn’t
left the stage since. In her 19 productions, she especially notes Donna in Mamma Mia, Inga in Young Frankenstein,
Hermia in a one-act adaptation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof.
Beyond local productions, she has furthered her studies in summer intensives with the
Torggler Summer Vocal Institute, the Musical Theatre Pre-College of Westminster Conservatory, and the
Summer Drama Intensive at University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Additionally, she studies
with Mary Matthew’s vocal studio where she has numerously placed in the state level National
Association of Teachers of Singing competition, was selected for 2018 district chorus, and was chosen for
the Virginia Chorale’s Young Singers Project where she was featured in a 2018 PBS documentary
following the selected students. In 2017, Jill found a love and appreciation for directing when she assisted
with James and The Giant Peach Junior. From there, she was the student director for The Visit and Elf
Junior at Hampton Roads Academy and was the primary director of The N Train, an original one-act written and performed by summer students at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. These experiences led her to direct as well as perform in Dear Juliet, which she notes as her “most challenging piece to direct so far". Jill plans to continue pursuing performance in college by attaining her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama.