For sophomore Mikayla Davic, writing a musical by herself is just another activity that is a part of her everyday life, but raising money through her musicals for the Make-A-Wish foundation is worth the hard work.
Davic has written and produced two musicals on her own over the last two years and in the process she has raised more than $16,000 in donations for the Make-A-Wish foundation.
“I decided to donate the money to Make-A-Wish because it’s not specifically for one cause. It lets children be free of the burden of their illness for some time,” Davic said.
This January, Davic will produce her third musical, called Paradise. It is about a group of four estranged friends who return home for the first time since graduation to prevent one of their classmates from building a casino over the town park.
Paradise was inspired by the song “Big Yellow Taxi,” originally by Joni Mitchell and covered by Counting Crows.
“It talks about how technology is taking over the world and that nature is slowly fading away,” Davic said.
Unlike the first musical she wrote, which took her a couple of weeks, the second and third took a couple of months.
Davic likes to take her time and takes pride in her work to make sure that everything she has written is to perfection.
“I don’t want to write something down that won’t work,” Davic said.
Not only is perfecting the script difficult, but casting is as well.
As with the previous musicals Davic has produced, kids of all ages will be cast. She has cast at least one person from each grade, kindergarten through senior year, to take part in her musical.
“I’ve been working with kids my whole life and I knew that I definitely wanted younger kids to take part in my production too,” Davic said.
Even though most younger kids are hard to control and have a difficult time listening, she takes the lead and many of the kids take her seriously and look up to her.
Davic not only casts younger kids but also her friends, which can present challenges.
“It’s weird having your friend as the director, but she’s still her friendly self and it amazes me that she has put all of this together at such a young age,” freshman Cassie Snyder said.
Paradise can be seen on January 5, 6 and 7 at 7 p.m. in the Baldwin High school auditorium.