11-year-old’s wish comes true with a coveted role in ‘A Christmas Carol’

Kennedy Haynes has added a skill to her acting resume: pantomime. And she has added quite a credit too.

The 11-year-old Costa Mesa resident has been cast in South Coast Repertory’s 36th annual production of “A Christmas Carol,” which begins performances Friday.

The theatrical newcomer presents quite a contrast with fellow actor Hal Landon Jr., who has played Ebenezer Scrooge for 35 years in the perennial favorite at the Costa Mesa theater.

Each season, 16 young people in South Coast Repertory’s Theatre Conservatory’s acting program are cast in the classic winter tale, but competition for selection is stiff.

This year, as many as 75 students in the program, which is open to children and teens, tried out for “A Christmas Carol.” The 16 selected actors will alternate in eight roles.

The auditions are open to all students in their third year of training. However, second-year students may be considered if they are recommended by an instructor.

Kennedy, a third-year student in the conservatory’s acting program, said her goal for years has been to land a role on the coveted Segerstrom Stage.

“I’ve been waiting for this since I started acting when I was 8,” said Kennedy, who attends Huntington Christian School. “It still hasn’t sunk in.”

She said her after-school acting classes consisted of learning character work, movement and vocalization under the guiding hands of instructor Donald Amerson and Theatre Conservatory director Hisa Takakuwa.

The first step of the audition process was for young actors to participate in an improvisational pantomime during a street scene in 19th century London.

Then the group of actors read scenes from “A Christmas Carol.” They were called in groups according to the ages of the characters they would portray.

A week later, the audition process was repeated, but this time in front of the production’s director, John-David Keller, casting director Joanne DeNaut and casting assistant Stephanie Marick.

After a few days, Takakuwa sent personal letters to those who didn’t make it.

But the phone rang for Kennedy.

“I didn’t think I was going to get it,” she said. “It worked out and I got it. I must have done something right.”

She’ll play Girl About Town and join other first-timers to the stage as well as more experienced young actors, including J.T. Casey and Nick Trafton, who will share the role of Ebenezer Scrooge as a boy. The two have also been in a summer production of “Mary Poppins” at the Rep.

Kennedy, who has lines to memorize, said rehearsing alongside Landon has been exciting.

“Hal is so funny and he doesn’t even try to be,” she said. “He’s a really good actor and he can still do a flip off a bed. It’s pretty cool.”

Kennedy fits in rehearsals from Monday through Sunday. Her dream is to become a professional actress.

Before she takes the stage for the first time on Friday, Kennedy — sounding like she is practicing for her Oscar acceptance — said she’d like to thank those who helped her along the way.

“I want to thank people for giving me this opportunity, especially to Julianne Argyros and to all the donors because I can’t imagine my life without [South Coast Repertory],” she said. “I love it and I don’t want to give it up.”