Not many people can be rehearsing, acting and auditioning in three different plays at any one time, but actress Robinne Booth of Springville has made it work for her at one point or another in her 40 year theatrical career.
But as grueling as that may sound, "grueling" is not a word in Booth's theater vocabulary. Booth, 58, says her theater schedule may be intense, but it is always enjoyable.
Even after 40 years of acting, Booth is still excited about every performance of every show.
"[Acting] makes the inside of me just want to explode," says Booth, who is currently playing the crazy Mrs. Bennet in an original musical adaptation of Jane Austen's novel "Pride and Prejudice" at the SCERA Shell in Orem.
With a big smile and a loud, projected voice, Booth puts on a crowd-pleasing performance for hundreds gathered at the Shell on opening night Friday. The five-foot-two, brown-haired, brown-eyed Booth has no problems making her character jump out of the open-air stage.
That explosive feeling inside Booth might be the reason why she can dedicate herself to four hours of daily rehearsals and nightly shows for weeks at a time almost all year long.
"She's an audience favorite at the playhouse," said Jay Knight, a Springville Playhouse board member and longtime friend of Booth. "They come just to see her."
Booth's love for the stage started early. At age twelve, Booth gathered children in her Texas neighborhood and put on a stage production of Jack and the Beanstalk. Booth used the garage door as the curtain and bed sheets as the beanstalk that would take jack up to the giant's home, which was a door just on the side of the house.
Booth says her mother put her in acting classes after that backyard production, and it all just took off from there.
Booth has been in nearly a hundred productions, ranging from comedies and musicals to tragedies and dramas.
"She's valuable to any production," said Knight, who's been acting and directing with Booth for more than 20 years.
"I'm having fun and living every season to it's capacity," Booth said.
"Pride and Prejudice" runs through Aug. 16 at the SCERA Shell and then from Aug. 19 to Aug. 22 at the de Jong Concert Hall on Brigham Young University campus.
Posted in Local on Sunday, August 3, 2008 11:00 pm
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