LEMONT, IL — Every year, the Illinois Theatre Association hosts an All-State Production featuring high schoolers from across the state at Illinois Theatre Fest. And this year, Lemont High School junior Julia Macari will be one of the students in the cast.
Julia is no stranger to the stage. She's been performing in the theater since she was 9, and has been in over 20 productions, she told Patch.
Julia will be one of only eight lead roles in the All-State production of "The Prom."
Julia got her start on the stage when Lemont music and dance academy, Allegro, used Julia's family restaurant as a rehearsal space. After that, she got involved in her school theater program, community theater and private theater companies.
"I have found my best friends through musical theater, and it really has helped me discover my self-identity. Every show and role has taught me different valuable life lessons and it has been a privilege to have gotten the chance to work with many talented performers inside and outside of LHS," she said.
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Last fall, Julia joined the teen musical company "Mainstage" in Darien for a production of "Heathers," where she played lead Veronica Sawyer. The production was directed by Danny Yuska, who also directs Hinsdale South High School's Theater Department.
"Yuska helped me grow as an actor and truly became one of my biggest supporters," Julia said.
Yuska is the Illinois All-State Theater director as well, and encouraged the cast members to at least try out for the All-State production.
"I was very nervous about auditioning, considering 300 kids audition and only 40 get to be in the cast, but luckily my mom convinced me to at least try out," Julia said. "And after hours of preparation and memorization I was granted not only acceptance into the cast, but I was selected to play Angie, one of the five female leads, in "The Prom!"
The All-State cast will perform the show five times at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for a total of 3,000 theater students from across the state, Julia said.
The 49th annual fest will be held Jan. 9-11. According to Lemont High School, Julia will join the ranks of five previous Lemont students who have been a part of the All-State cast or crew. The most recent student was in 2016, when Kevin Troy (Class of 2016) served as part of the technical crew.
Julia said the experience has been amazing, especially "getting to work with so many talented kids who share my level of dedication to musical theater."
She is most excited for the audiences at the fest.
"'The Prom' really tugs at the heartstrings of people everywhere, but I think it will deeply reside with teenagers in the theater community, as many jokes and references are geared towards that particular demographic," Julia said.
She added that she is honored to represent LHS at the fest.
"I hope going forward by sharing my incredible experience with All-State [that] more kids from Lemont will be encouraged to at least audition," she said.