First Posted: 2/27/2015
LIMA — It’s one of the best school productions Lima City School District Superintendent Jill Ackerman has ever seen.
“I started to cry I was so proud,” she said.
The show was Lima Senior High School and Liberty Art Magnet’s production of “Beauty and the Beast Jr.” Preparation for the show began before this year’s holiday break and culminated with performances last week.
With so much time to practice, the audience would be hard-pressed to figure out the play’s lead, Belle — or Angeleta Cowan — stepped in as a replacement in January.
Kristin Lee, an art teacher at the high school and director of the play, said the 14-year-old was originally cast as a “Silly Girl” (one of Gaston’s groupies), but a teacher highly recommended Angeleta for the role and she already knew most of the songs and script. She’s also already been in three plays, though never the lead.
“She’s just gets it,” Lee said. “She’s incredibly reliable.”
As an eighth-grader in multiple bands and choirs at Liberty, it was evident Angeleta had the musical talent for the part, able to sing, play flute and viola.
Initially, Angeleta was hesitant to take the part. She wanted to be Mrs. Potts and struggled to identify with Belle, especially when falling in love with a beast.
“That’s weird to stay with your kidnapper,” Angeleta said. “What about your life before that? What if you were engaged?”
Instead, Angeleta said she identifies more with Princess Tiana’s spunky attitude and independence. Despite the hesitation to take the spotlight as Belle, Angeleta said she’s enjoyed audience reactions, the costumes and spending time with close friends.
“I don’t think I’m anything like Belle,” she said. “But she’s very nice and cares a lot about others even if they don’t care about her.”
