Mikayla Davic, sophomore at Baldwin High School in the Baldwin-Whitehall School District has written, produced and directed her third annual musical for the exclusive benefit of the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The production is titled PARADISE and will run January 5, 6 and 7 at Baldwin High School – open to the public. Mikayla has always had the passion to write, act and sing. Her love for the stage began in second grade when she had the opportunity to be a munchkin in the Baldwin High School production of Wizard of Oz. In fourth grade, she performed in the high school’s production – Children of Eden. This led her to where she is today, writing original musicals to benefit those in need.
For Mikayla’s seventh grade gifted project, she wrote a musical and asked if she could bring it to the stage. The District held that musical, “A Not So Magical Story,” in the fall of 2014. “I wanted to find a charity that helped all children no matter what illness they had. That is why I chose Make-A-Wish,” said Ms. Davic. “We raised over $8,000 which was enough to send two families to Disney World.” In January of 2015, Mikayla produced her second musical entitled “Murder on 34^th Street.” That musical brought propelled her contributions to Make-A-Wish to $17,200 total. She has committed herself to raise $50,000 for Make-A-Wish by graduation and plans to study film, screenwriting and playwriting at UCLA, USC or NYU.
Make-A-Wish children always attend Mikayla’s productions, seated in the front row, where they are treated – “like royalty.”
Cast and Crew of Paradise
Writer and Director – Mikayla Davic
Producer – Jessica Kubas (a mom of one of the cast members that ran a musical theater company in Louisville. KY)
Choreography – Jess Hansen
Photography – Paige Crawley
*47 cast members ranging from pre-school thru 12^th grade
Summary of Production
“Paradise,” is about a group of four estranged best friends in their late twenties who return to their small hometown to prevent the imminent industrialization bound to follow the construction of a touristy casino that has the potential of stomping out the close-knit community. The major roles include the four best friends and the contractor (an old classmate) and their younger counterparts in flashback scenes. There is also an older woman (a sort of advocate of the town), an uncle to one of the friends, and the wife of one of the friends. There is also the ensemble, which is the group of kids who don’t have a singing it speaking role but participate in musical numbers and play the people of the town.
ABOUT MAKE-A-WISH
The mission of Make-A-Wish is to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. One of the greatest misconceptions is that we only grant wishes to terminally-ill children. This is not true, in fact, more than 80% of our kids are still fighting. More than just a nice experience, we believe that the wish experience can actually aide in a child’s healing process, making them feel stronger, more energetic and more willing to fight.
The Greater Pennsylania/West Virginia Make-A-Wish chapter is one of the most active in the country, and grants about 700 wishes each year.
Visit https://www.facebook.com/mikswish/ for more information.
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