Knoch High School graduate makes debut at CLO Cabaret
Growing up, Jessica Ortiz watched shows at the Pittsburgh CLO with wide eyes.
“Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be able to be in a cast,” said Ortiz, 21, a 2016 Knoch High School graduate.
Now Ortiz is living one of her dreams under the theater's lights.
Ortiz, a Penn State University incoming senior, will make her debut this summer at the Pittsburgh CLO Greer Cabaret Theater, 655 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, as the female swing in the premiere of “Spamilton: An American Parody,” a musical parody of the Broadway show “Hamilton,” which opens May 23 with eight shows per week running through Aug. 25.
As the female swing, Ortiz is covering for the only woman in the play's cast of seven. A swing is a performer who takes over when someone is out.
“It's a lot of being patient,” Ortiz said. “It makes me really eager to do really good work and always be on my toes and ready to jump in.”
Rehearsals were eight hours a day, six days a week for a two-week period, Ortiz said.
As the lead runs through rehearsal, Ortiz is beside, in front of and behind her gesturing, marking and doing what she is doing, she said.
At the CLO Academy rehearsal room, leads practice on the stage while swings are below on the lower level in front in their own space to rehearse and learn from the directors, choreographers and music directors.
Ortiz also takes down the lead's notes and the numbered positions they are take on stage.
“If she forgets something on stage, I have to be ready to give her a line,” Ortiz said about the role that requires teamwork, listening and focus.
After the show opens, Ortiz and the male swing will be placed in rehearsal and run through the show as the characters.
The exciting part of the job is you have to always be ready, Ortiz said.Ortiz will perform for three shows, one on June 28 and two on June 29. Of the three and a half months the show runs, there could be other possibilities for her to perform.“The fun thing about a swing is you never know when you go on,” she said. “Someone could get food poisoning the night before and you have to go on the next day. You always have to be ready to go on.”People who attend the show can expect to laugh the night away during the play's hour and a half runtime, Ortiz said.The CLO role is one exciting new jump closer to professional level theater and on her career path, she said.Ortiz deferred her Equity card with the Actors' Equity Association until after she graduates, she said.However, she is in the Equity Membership Candidate Program in which actors and stage managers in training earn credit for theatrical work in certain Equity theatres toward eventual Equity membership.After the run of “Spamilton,” Ortiz will have 17 of the 25 points she needs to be eligible for an Equity card.Ortiz, who is the daughter of Ron and Carolyn Ortiz of Penn Township, has been doing theater productions since she was 5, she said.In the past, she worked with Pittsburgh Musical Theater, an experience that led her to choose theater as a professional.Her happiest feelings come from the stage, she said.“If I'm having a bad day, if I'm going through something, I can put that into my artistry and acting because I consider myself an actress first,” she said. “Every life experience that I have, every good thing, bad thing I experience, I always tie into the story I'm telling on stage,”Do not accept no and do not let negativity hold you back, Ortiz said is her advice to young students.“I have been told no by many people in my life. I've been told I'm not good enough, look good enough or sound good enough,” she said. “Believe in yourself.”Theatre goes beyond fun and entertainment — it is a life lesson.“It's more than just fun; every single show is an opportunity I get to learn something incredibly special and I take it with me everywhere I go. It's a learning experience. ... There's so much to learn from every show, class and person I meet in this business,” she said. “It's my life.”
Recent roles include “Kiss of the Spider Woman” where she played Aurora/Spider Woman and “Legally Blonde The Musical” where she played Paulette.In the past, she has worked with Pittsburgh Musical Theater, Woodstock Playhouse Theater in New York and Shenandoah Summer Theater in Virginia.Locally, she has performed with Butler Musical Theater Guild, Summer Dramatics Project and Sing Hosanna.
WHAT: “Spamilton: An American ParodyWHEN: May 16 through Aug. 25WHERE: Pittsburgh CLO Greer Cabaret Theater, 655 Penn Ave, PittsburghNOTE: Jessica Ortiz, a 2016 Knoch High School graduate, will perform June 28 and 29, and possibly in other shows.
