Cinderella Spotlight: Dolapo Latinwo

Dolapo Latinwo, 11, was a cast member in the Cinderella Musical starring as Cinderella’s evil stepmother.

The Cinderella Musical was held by the Mill Creek Theatre program from March 9-11 and from March 16-18. When asked why she auditioned for the musical, Latinwo said, “I auditioned because I am passionate about theatre. I love getting the chance to portray different characters and bring their stories to life.”

Since Latinwo was a major role in the musical, she had a numerous amount of lines to memorize. Regarding the difficulty remembering her lines, she says, “It was a little hard at first because of the advanced vocabulary used in the lines. The stepmother’s character naturally has a lot of unique phrases due to her flamboyant nature, so it was a challenge to say the least. However, day-by-day while practicing during rehearsal, I got better at speaking and getting my timing right.”Latinwo also says one of the biggest things she discovered that helped her succeed was highlighting the lines of the person speaking before her and using their lines as cues to help her with timing.

In terms of her overall experience and the interactions she had with her cast mates, she enjoyed working together with the others to bring Cinderella’s story life. Latinwo says, “It was thrilling to hear the applause from the audience and know that people enjoyed our performances. This was a really great experience and I hope to do it again next year.”

She also had some words about the people behind the scenes that assisted in running the show. According to Latinwo, “We couldn’t have done it without our amazing director Sarah Lindahl. She was always there and supported us, whether that be as a teacher or a friend. She stuck with us through it all. Miro Gomez, our musical director, helped push us outside of our comfort zone and really helped bring out the best in us. To Alison Woodbury, our coreographer, she was a wonderful help and very understanding, especially when it came to learning the dances. Many of us had little to no dancing experience, but she was patient and always willing to help anyone who needed it.”

Latinwo is not new to the world of fine arts with her having previous experience in Mill Creek’s theatre program that she took sophomore year. When asked about her future career plans, Latinwo says, “I’ve always wanted to be a film or television actress, but I plan to go to college and major in political science and history. Eventually, I would like to go off to law school, but you never know what the future holds. If I’m truly meant to be on the “big screen” I’m sure it will happen someway or another.”