Photo @ciaraalyseharris on Instagram
Ciara Alyse Harris' first introduction to musical theatre was in fifth grade when her friend invited her to theatre summer camp to participate in the show “Dear Edwina”. Before then, she already loved singing.
“I fell in love with the concept of community and sharing something so special with the group of people you create the show with,” she said.
She auditioned for Dear Evan Hansen after the casting team reached out to her school, the Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. Casting was looking for some spots to fill for the first national tour. She found out she had a callback for Alana while she was in a U-Haul truck moving to New York City with her college roommate.
The callback was the same day as her senior showcase. After auditioning, she was called to read for the Zoe/Alana Understudy. She did a series of callbacks, work sessions and the rest is history!
Her favorite number in the show is Good For You, because “it feels so bad ass to perform every single time.”
According to Harris, the most challenging song is You Will Be Found because it gets outrageously high at the end. She notes it's also such a beautiful number and feels the most surreal while you’re in the middle of performing it.
As for a memorable moment with the cast, during a scene with Stephen Christopher Anthony who plays Evan, and Alessandro Constantini who plays Jared, they all had a laughing spell on stage at the same time.
“Our characters interact mostly through the computer so we spend a lot of our scenes facing out to the audience. When we actually get to interact with each other face to face we have way too much fun,” she said.
Her advice for aspiring performers is to keep going and keep learning.
“We are so lucky to be brave enough to pursue a career in what we love,” she said.
Harris admires how relentless her character Alana is and how she finds purpose in being a leader and bringing people together. She describes Alanna as a good person to have on your team.
When portraying Alana, Harris brings a lot of complexities to the character. She points out Alana can be a bit overlooked as a character. To her, Alana on the surface seems like a goody two shoes who is completely out of touch with reality. When in actuality, she is a deeply insecure teenager who wants to be loved and fears being seen for who she actually is.
“Alana fears that she isn’t good enough so she has to be the smartest person in the room. I think a lot of people can relate to feeling like you need to overcompensate just to be noticed, but her intentions are good,” Harris said.
She would ask Alana what she really wants in life and how she sees herself when no one is looking.
Through performing Dear Evan Hansen, the message that stuck with her was that humans all really want the same thing to be seen and loved for who they really are.
She believes it’s important for people to see all the characters in an ugly but truthful light. Harris highlights that people aren’t perfect and sometimes do things out of fear, but what brings us together is we are all working from a place called “the only way we know how.”
“We all got here from different circumstances. I think this story makes people feel safe, and that they are not alone,” she said.
For Harris, performing at the MUNY was the opportunity of a lifetime. She received her equity card from the MUNY playing Lorraine in All Shook Up. She will never forget the phone call when she was offered the role.
She describes it as a surreal experience performing in an outdoor theatre with all those seats. Harris recalls that everybody who gets the chance to work there is treated with so much love and respect.
A Miami native Harris loves the restaurant, Houstons and her favorite aspect of the city is its diversity.
“I don’t think any city can flourish without it,” she said.
At Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, she had a class dedicated to auditioning. In the course, she learned about how performers tend to walk into rooms apologizing with their shoulders, inevitably showing how they feel about themselves and the people behind the table can see all those aspects.
The lesson she took away from that class was the importance of walking into a room with the utmost confidence. She notes that you are showing them what you have to offer and if they’re looking for something else than you move on to the next audition.
“I’ve learned that every audition is an opportunity and a chance to show what you’re made of. So keep your head held high,” she said.
Dear Evan Hansen national tour runs from Dec 15 to Dec 19 at the Kravis Center.
Photo courtesy of Kravis Center
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