Saxonburg native and professional actress Allison Cahill is featured as Mrs. Eynsford-Hill, Freddy's mother, in Pittsburgh Public Theatre's production of “My Fair Lady” running through Feb. 22.

She also portrays a parlor maid and a barmaid in the classic musical.

Cahill took to the stage at age 10 in “Oliver!” with the Musical Theatre Guild in Butler, playing one of the boys, and she's been going nonstop ever since.

The Knoch High School alum graduated in 1981 from the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City. Her Knoch High School roles included Marian in “Music Man,” Dolly in “Hello Dolly,” and the title role in “Mame.”

Cahill, now of Pittsburgh, last took the Butler stage at the Butler Little Theatre in the mid-'80s where she appeared as Brooke Ashton in “Noises Off.”

She has fond and funny memories of her time in Butler.

“My brother and I auditioned for MTG's production of 'Guys and Dolls.' They cast Chip as Sky Masterson, but wouldn't cast me as Sarah.”

The roles of Sky and Sarah are the romantic leads in “Guys and Dolls.”

“I got to play a bunch of fun character roles, including a dancer who had to kiss Sky Masterson. It's acting, people!” said Cahill.

She has appeared on stages in several states and in a variety of roles and toured nationally with the Broadway hit, “A Chorus Line.”

Her current role in “My Fair Lady” places some pretty strong demands on the actress.

“High British dialect and volume/clarity in large theater are where my focus is for 'My Fair Lady.'

“It is the most beautiful production I have ever seen, let alone been a part of,” she added.

“The professional orchestra playing the gorgeous Lerner and Lowe score is breathtaking,” she said.

The show is based on the play “Pygmalion” written by George Bernard Shaw.

“My Fair Lady” is the story of Eliza Doolittle and her teacher Henry Higgins, as she transforms from a Cockney flower girl to the fairest lady of them all.

Cahill's favorite role to date is that of Charity Valentine she performed in “Sweet Charity” at the Empire Theater in New York.

Her most difficult role to play, she said, culminated in the collision of the world of the stage with the real world.

She was asked to play Irena in “The Music Lesson.”

“It was a true story about a Bosnian piano teacher and her violinist husband who survived the siege in Sarajevo and live in Pittsburgh,” Cahill said.

She was subsequently invited to meet the real Irena and later performed the play with Irena herself and her husband in the audience. “It was a life changing experience to tell her story,” Cahill said.

Her dream role would have been Maria in “The Sound of Music,” but alas she said she may be too old for the role at this juncture, so Norma Desmond in “Sunset Boulevard” is now her dream role.

When not on stage, Cahill is a voice-over artist, licensed massage therapist and jewelry designer.

<B>WHO: </B>Saxonburg native Allison Cahill in “My Fair Lady”<B>WHEN:</B>Through Feb. 22, at 7 p.m. Tuesdays, at 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays, at 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and at 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays, plus a show at 2 p.m. Feb. 19.<B>WHERE: </B>Pittsburgh Public Theater, 621 Penn Ave.<B>TICKETS: </B>Start at $23; students and those age 26 and younger pay $15.75.<B>INFO: </B>412-316-1600 or info@ppt.org