Scoop: Q and A: Kaitlin Whiteside

Theater lovers who want to see a comedy can catch one this weekend.

Center Grove High School will be performing “The Curious Savage” at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets are $8. Kaitlin Whiteside, a senior who plays Ethel Savage, offers her perspective on the show, her character and her theater experiences.

● What is the show about?

In short, the show is about the adventures that a woman (Ethel Savage) goes through when her stepchildren put her in a house for crazy people (The Cloisters) in efforts to take the inheritance money that her husband left her when he died.

● What is your favorite scene?

My favorite scene is Act 3, Scene 1 when the characters who live in The Cloisters (the “crazy” people) give my character gifts. It is in this scene that my character really connects with each of the patients on a different level and sees how sincere and kind they are and how she actually likes living with them better than being in the “outside world.”

● Why did you audition?

I auditioned because I love working with Ms. (Kathleen) Kersey and wanted to be under her direction again and because I researched the show and thought it sounded funny.

● What other shows have you been in?

I have been in “Cinderella,” “Charley’s Aunt,” “Footloose,” and “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.”

● What is the rehearsal process like?

During any given rehearsal, we begin by taking time to get into character and practice our lines, and then we run scenes on stage as our directors take notes and give us suggestions later about what we can do better. Sometimes Ms. Kersey likes to mix it up and we will do fun acting exercises within the show to keep us on our toes and keep our energy up.

● Why should audiences see the show?

People should see the show because it is hilarious and because it has a good underlying message regarding what attributes really make a person “crazy” or sane.

● How do you get in character?

Before every rehearsal, I recite some of my lines to myself and start imagining myself as Ethel — a 60-something-year-old woman who is kind, resourceful and spunky.

● What is your favorite play?

“The Curious Savage” is my favorite theater production that I’ve been in because I love all the characters in it and the funny predicaments they continually find themselves in.

— Compiled by Magen Kritsch