South Suburban Girl Gets Cast in 'Best Christmas Pageant Ever!'
When Telah Amauri Anderson was just 2 years-old, she pointed to her family’s television and proclaimed: “that’s what I want to do.”
So, the Matteson, Ill., girl’s mother enrolled her in a performing arts school.
“She was always dancing all over the place,” Charla Anderson recalled about her daughter. “She would repeat lines from TV. We knew we had to get her into something.”
Last month, Telah Anderson moved closer to appearing on the big tube— she was cast in the play, Best Christmas Pageant Ever! which is scheduled to open this month at the Provision Theater, 1001 W. Roosevelt Rd., Chicago.
The play is the10-year-old’s first paying gig.
“This is more professional,” said Telah Anderson who has performed in some non-paying productions. “I get to see more people acting…I think it is pretty cool.”
The 60 minute production tells the story of six delinquent youngsters. The troubled youth smoke and shoplift. But they finally decide to attend church for the first time after learning it offers snacks. Even though there are objections from church members, they land roles in a Sunday school Christmas pageant.
Telah Anderson portrays Maxine, a youngster who narrates the Christmas story in the pageant.
“She is very talented,” said Timothy Gregory, director of the play. “She is gifted. She obviously has some natural ability… I can trust her…When there are 15 kids in show; it is good to have someone you can trust.”
Anderson is also a good dancer. The youngster, along with a child partner, recently won “The Super Tap Award” in a statewide youth tap dancing contest.
Despite Anderson’s current success, she has not always “made the cut.”
Last year, she failed to make the cast for a professional production of The Lion King.
But she is “never ready to give up,” said Charla Anderson, a preschool teacher. The girl’s father, Anthony Anderson, is a software engineer.
“If I don’t make it as big a star, I will be a pediatrician,” said Telah Anderson, an honor roll student. “I am a book worm. I like to read.”
The play runs Nov. 28 - Dec. 20 with performances on Saturdays at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. There are also 10 a.m. performances Dec. 2, 9, and 16.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children 12 and younger.
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