Self-assured and kind hearted

Courtesy photo
A SENIOR AT Coal City High School, Sophia Jakubowski will step on to the stage next week as the beautiful and tenacious Esmeralda in Coal City Theatre Department’s production of Disney’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” The musical will be presented March 6 through 8 and March 13 through 15 in the Coal City Performing Arts Center. Reserved seat tickets are available at cchunchback.brownpapertickets.com

By: 
Ann Gill
Editor

Sophia Jakubowski is like the character she plays—strong-willed, self-assured and kind hearted.
A senior at Coal City High School, Jakubowski will step onto the stage next week as the beautiful and tenacious Esmeralda in her school’s production of Disney’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”
“Esmeralda does what she wants, stands for what she believes in and is a very confident woman, and that’s what helps me go into my role. You have to be confident in order to be Esmeralda and I feel that in doing this role it has helped me to be more confident in everything I do, so that’s been good,” Jakubowski said.
Esmeralda is one of just two named female roles in the stage production based on Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel of the same title.
When it came time for auditions, Jakubowski gave it her all and landed the role she wanted.
“I wanted to go out with a bang, so I’m pretty excited,” she said, but more importantly she wanted to prove to her director that she is capable of a role such as Esmeralda.
“Every time I’m on stage I want people to know what I am capable of and hopefully I am showing that,” Jakubowski said.
Not every day is perfect, there have been mishaps and slight setbacks along the way, but she doesn’t let it get to her.
“I just keep going,” she said.
From the moment she landed the role, Jakubowski has been preparing.
“The day we got our scripts I was going through our lines so much that I had the whole thing memorized by our first blocking rehearsal, because I just wanted to make sure I knew my lines,” she said, noting she didn’t want to get called out for not being prepared.
Although she is no stranger to the stage, having performed in school and community theatre productions since middle school, this is her first lead role.
She admits there is a level of nervousness, but it’s outweighed by her excitement for what this cast has put together.
“The Hunchback of Notre Dame” features complex characters, profound themes and a challenging vocal score.
“I’m proud of everyone in the cast, they are all really working hard,” said Jakubowski, who’s shared the stage with a majority of the players since she landed her first role in her middle school’s production of “Annie, Jr.”
Having developed friendships with her fellow cast mates has made this and other productions enjoyable, and those relationships have proven to ease even the most difficult scenes.
In this production, Jakubowski said she initially had a hard time getting into character in one particularly emotional and tender scene with Griffin Johnson, who takes the stage as Phoebus de Martin, the charismatic captain of the cathedral guard, who falls for the beautiful gypsy.
The pair’s off-stage friendship has helped eased the process.
“Grif is one of my best friends, so I feel more comfortable with him,” she said.
Of all the lines and lyrics in the show, Jakubowski said her favorite scene comes mid-way through act two when she appears with Johnson and Riley Nevin, the show’s Quasimodo, to perform “In a Place of Miracles.”
“It is a really pretty song to sing and to have that with Riley and Griffin its a lot of fun,” she said.
Nevin is one person she looks up to in the cast, “he’s been doing great things,” she notes. And, Cody Rogers is another.
“Really, I look up to everyone, because they have been doing this as long as me and they are doing great,” she said.
With this being her final school production, Jakubowski finds herself reminiscing a bit on the past seven years and what theatre means to her.
“I have done this for the longest time and it’s made me who I am today. This is a big part of what I do and it’s fun for me. There is a rush of being on stage and doing it with the people you love, it’s an amazing thing to do and I am going to miss that a lot. It’s going to be weird not doing this after this year,” she said.
“I’ve literally made tons of relationships through this, so it’s going to be really sad when I leave, it’s a second family to me,” Jakubowski added.
As opening night approaches, she pushes away thoughts of her final show to focus on the task before her. She encourages everyone to get a ticket—cchunchback.brownpapertickets.com— and come out to the Coal City Performing Arts Center March 6 through 8 and March 13 through 15 to see what this cast, crew and creative team has developed.
As the house lights dim and the stage lights go on, she’ll take a deep breath and step on stage self-assured and confident, and prepared to show everyone what she is capable of.