Above and right, 7-year old Michelle Moores and 10--year old Christina Nicole Carerra meet outside the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles after the final matinee performance on July 17 for the touring company of the Broadway revival of South Pacific! Christina has been touring with the show playing the role of a Polynesian child named Ngana.
Michelle has been signed by the Myrna Lieberman Talent Agency in LA. Both girls have been students of Cheryl Rhoads and they demonstrate the comical "Beverly Hills Air Kiss" that Cheryl taught them when they say, "Mua, Mua", Love your shoes!"
Michelle Moores also spent the summer learning an audtion monologue from the play You're a Good Man Charlie Brown based on characters from the Peanuts comic strip by the late Charles M. Schulz.
Lucy wants to be a Queen but when Linus tells her she has to be born into a royal family she protests and demands the right to buy a "Queendom" for herelf so she can be a Queen and all the people will wave at her as she rides by in a coach.
Photo by Peter Coombs
Rod Gilfry as Emile de Becque (left) and Carmen Cusack as Ensign Nellie Forbush with CJ Palma as Jerome and Christina Carrera as Ngana in South Pacific! at the Orpheum Theater in Memphis, Tennessee in March 2010. Christina started lessons with Cheryl Rhoads when she was six years old and is touring with the Broadway musical revival touring company for one year with her mother Staci. Christina goes to school with other children in the cast by special arrangement.
Actress Victoria Emmons at left with Cheryl Rhoads students Virginia Tucker (center) and Kristine Cornils (right) film a scene from the movie Life Fine Tuned at a farm house near Culpepper, Virginia in June 2010.
Kayla Cheney above at right joins fellow actors in the Mount Vernon Community Childrens Theatre production of Peter Pan in 2010
It was really a Wednesday night series acting class graduation show for parents of teens and tweens on Feb. 24 and NOT a dancing class. But when teacher and director Cheryl Rhoads yelled "Freeze!," then Camille Speer at left and James Kemp at right had to stop their funny improv scene right where they were, so that other students could take their places to continue the story.
Camille Speer at left plays the role of a pirate seeking revenge against Long John Silver played by Shomin Mathur in the Cooper Middle School production of Treasure Island in 2009. The school is located in McLean, Virginia. (Photo courtesy of Connection Newspapers)
Susan Speer, mother of Camille Speer, wrote this email below to Cheryl Rhoads in summer of 2010:
You did it again! You know the dramatic monologue you and Camille worked on? She auditioned for The Polite Mr. Turner for the only role for a kid (a very small role) and she used that monologue that you marked up and worked with her on. They had her cold read for the waitress (at that point we knew they were just being nice since that role was for someone 20+ but they loved her and the way she did it . It gave them an idea and they rewrote that part of the script added to it and now she has a huge role. This is an Indie Feature Film . ANYWAY if it wasn't for your help Camille would not be landing these roles. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! We are still messing around with Wilhelmina next weekend she is doing this Industrial type video on Saturday (resume building) and Stonehenge(using the new monologue) followed by the last (yeah) class at Wilhelmina on Sunday and we will be through. So maybe you and Camille can start working on cold reading techniques? If you haven't heard the kids (Jayhan, Josh, Scott and Camille) had a blast doing the voiceover together and the guy that did it America Onfilm was very happy with them. What a nice group of kids. Will email to figure out your schedule when I come up for air after we finish with Wilhelmina. Thank you for everything!! You're the best! Susan Speer, Great Falls,
VA
Nina May, pictured at left, is President of Renaissance Women Productions. Nina is the producer, director, and screen writer for the movie Life Fine Tuned. The film is shot entirely in Virginia and includes Cheryl Rhoads and several of her students in the cast. Cheryl Rhoads is also an Associate Producer for the film. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE MOVIE WEB SITE.
In the photo above, Kristine Cornils, Brandon Millet, and Brad Masters on base join with blue grass musicians called Brandy Station on the front porch of a farm house in Rappahanock County, Virginia to film a scene for the movie Life Fine Tuned in June 2010.
Kristine Cornils at right did not have very much experience in acting before she started taking adult-level lessons from the Cheryl Felicia Rhoads Acting Boot Camp in 2004. Kristine earned a B.S. degree in civil engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and an S.M. (scientiæ magister in Latin for Master of Science degree) in Civil and Environmental Engineering and an additional S.M. degree in Technology and Policy from M.I.T. Yet she very quickly adapted to her new interest in drama and started to gain experience in auditions and won parts with Northern Virginia community theater productions. Soon she was taking on challenging roles such as a German witness against Nazi war crimes named "Maria Walner" in Judgment at Nuremberg and a classic starring role as "Blanche Du Bois" in A Streetcar Named Desire with the Castaways Repartory Theatre. She also played the role of "Princess Escalus" in Romeo and Juliet for the Tapestry Theatre Company. As Kristine continued to take acting classes and private lessons from Cheryl Rhoads, her fast developing skills and poise led to hosting a public service announcement for a credit counseling association and many other opportunities.
At left, Kristine Cornils plays "Blanche DuBois" in A Streetcar Named Desire.
At right, Kristine Cornils plays the role of "Nora Hellmer" in a special performance of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House at the Embassy of Norway.
CLICK HERE TO SEE KRISTINE'S ACTING WEB SITE.
Pictured at left is Maria Jones who took private acting lessons from Cheryl Rhoads during high school and who played a leading role in a 2008 short movie produced and directed by Cheryl called After Once Upon a Time. Maria is also an honor student and was Executive President of the student body at St. Maria Goretti High School and appeared in several school plays as well as in plays with Walker Performing Arts near her home in Hagerstown, Maryland. Maria has modeled for local and national print ads for Amtrak, Marriot Hotels, Bon Ton Department Store, Bank of Lancaster and as a runway model for Lord & Taylor Department Store.
Below is an audition tape that Maria prepared for Cheryl Rhoads in 2009.
2009 was a terrific year for many CFR students that brought great acting opportunities at the communiy level and even several professional jobs. Kayla Cheney appeared in a movie, so did Emma Earnest and Cheryl Felicia Rhoads herself. Christina Carrera was cast in the touring company for South Pacific! Cameron Young made a commercial for Nike. Kristine Cornils balanced her work, important volunteer jobs, made a Public Service Announcement for TV, and even found time to schedule her wedding on a mountain top in New Mexico! CFR students had chances to invite parents and friends to see us in our end-of-course graduation shows and many CFR students were cast in community theater presentations through the year and some were able to audition for a top Hollywood talent agent for kids and the mother of Disney Channel star and former CFR student David Henrie. We look forward to learning more about acting for fun and for work as we seek new opportunities and auditions in 2010. For more information, also see testimonials on the home page.
Pictured at left above are Danielle Tarbuck and Jonas Swenholdt in their graduation show for adult students in July 2009. In addition to taking acting lessons from Cheryl Rhoads, Danielle also works as a professional model. At right above Shirley Corpuz and Andre Taylor perform for families and fellow students at their graduation show in July 2009. CLASS ROOM IN A CONVENIENT LOCATION in a safe residential neighborhood.
At right is actress and singer Renee Olstead who took acting lessons from Cheryl Felicia Rhoads when she was very young and Cheryl was teaching in Los Angeles. Renee started acting as a child and played the role of "Lauren Miller" in the TV sitcom Still Standing and the role of "Madison" in the ABC Family series called The Secret Life of the American Teenager. She also played the role of Deborah Wigand in the 1999 feature film called The Insider. Renee also has a music career and has recorded pop and jazz standards for Warner Bros. Records.
In the photo at right, Renee Olstead performs onstage at the amfAR New York Gala at Cipriani on 42nd Street to kick off Fall 2009 Fashion Week on February 12, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images)
Ashley Rose Orr below and left is a former student of Cheryl Rhoads who now makes a living as a professional actress in LA. She has many movie and TV credits. Her personal testimonial to Cheryl can be found on the home page.
Scott Clark pictured below at left also plays a role in the movie Life Fine Tuned as Lisa Foreman shown at right plays the role of Nurse Carla in the same movie.
Emma Earnest at right will be seen in a leading role in 2010 in The Fellows Hip: Rise of the Gamers. She also has a lead role in the 2010 movie Senioritis and will be in the supporting cast of Life Fine Tuned.
CLICK HERE TO SEE EMMA IN THE MOVIE TRAILER FOR THE FELLOWS HIP
Virginia Tucker at right below is one of several CFR students appearing in the movie Life Fine Tuned which is filmed entirely in Virginia in 2010.
Cheryl Rhoads at far left near fence and cast members and extras join producer and Director Nina May (red top back to camera) as they listen to director of photography Ron Newcomb organize a scene from Life Fine Tuned on a farm in Culpepper, Virginia in June 2010. A helicopter can be seen in the background that was used to take scenes from the air.
On Dec. 3, 2009 Cheryl Felicia Rhoads directed more than 30 actors below in a staged reading of a screenplay called Unlawful Assembly at The Comedy Spot in the Ballston Shopping Mall in Arlington, Va. The comedy is about the final night of chaos in the Illinois state legislature at the Capitol in Springfield, Illinois just before adjournment of the session. The play was written by and based on xperiences of Cheryl's brother Mark Rhoads who served as an Illinois State Senator for six years. The play was produced by the Illinois State Society of Washington, DC.
Below left to right, Gina Dolin, Lorenzo James, Cheryl Rhoads, and P.J. McGaw pose after the performance of Unlawful Assembly at The Comedy Spot in Arlington, Va.
Michelle Vivaldi Tocci at right played the role of Channel 4 reporter Maria Gonzales in Unlawful Assembly.
Below are cast members Bobby Dinato and Jim Day and their wives.
Below John Askew holding his script at right poses with a guest from the audience at a reception following the performance of Unlawful Assembly at the Comedy Spot in Arlington, Va.
Below Melissa Alves and P.J. McGaw play the starring roles of Candy Ryan and Tom Nolan in the staged reading of Unlawful Assembly.
At Left, Cheryl Rhoads and Carl Randolph appeared in a special showcase at The Comedy Spot in 2009 directed by author and actor Keith M. Donaldson.
Left and Below, CFR colleague, playwright, novelist, and actor Keith Donaldson plays an emotional scene with Victoria Emmons in a hospital set for Life Fine Tuned.
