Wow.  September just started and we’re already busy bees here at CYPT preparing for not one but TWO fall shows, the first of which is Unity (1918) and is already knee-deep into rehearsal.  One of the reasons we are so excited for this show is that it features a young performer in her first lead role at CYPT, and she’s already doing fantastic work!  She also happens to be our September YP of the Month, and it’s such a treat to finally highlight her excellence after years of solid performances.  You may remember her heartwrenching monologue in Village of Idiots (one of the few parts of the play that wasn’t ridiculous), but you’ve also seen her comedic chops at work in that play and many others.  She’s smart, friendly, and a ray of sunshine in every rehearsal hall she’s a part of.  And who is this fantastically funny female featured this fall’s fun about the flu?

September’s YP of the Month is none other than,

Bailey Lohmann!!!

Bailey and Adriana in The Incredible Speediness of Jamie Cavanaugh (2017).  Photo by Rob Galbraith.

One fateful, balmy summer evening in 2014, a nervously unprepared kid walked into a CYPT audition. She didn’t have a “monologue” prepared, per say, just a story she had improvised the night before. She couldn’t help imagining what it would be like to be accepted into CYPT, but more than three years later, she’s lucky enough to tell that tale.

Bailey as Gittel in Village of Idiots (2016). Photo by Rob Galbraith/Little Guy Media

Since she was ten, Bailey has adored acting onstage (despite cringing while reminiscing on her earlier roles), participating in numerous Storybook Theatre productions, as well as one Stage West Show. But it’s at CYPT where she feels most at home, around people just weird as her. Her first role was in The Sleepy Hollow Project as a gossiping townswoman. She survived not one, but TWO pogroms in Village of Idiots as the weathered and wizened Gittel.  And most recently, Bailey doubled as a strict principal and neurotic doctor in The Incredible Speediness of Jamie Cavanaugh. She’s grown so much through the companionship of the wonderful folks involved in the company. You can catch her next as Beatrice in Unity (1918), which she is psyched to be in! It’s safe to say she’s been counting down the days until rehearsals start.

Bailey in  The Incredible Speediness of Jamie Cavanaugh (2017).  Photo by Rob Galbraith/Little Guy Media.

Bailey normally takes part in an extensive list of mostly mundane activities. Some are productive, like studying. Some, like watching cartoons…not so much. She is learning to sing and dance less mediocre-ly in programs like The Show Company, as well as others. Bailey loves drawing and writing, anytime, anyplace. You can find her walking and/or running around her neighborhood aimlessly, just blowing off steam. Before she runs out of space, Bailey wants to thank her family and friends, who makes her world so awesome to live in.

“Theatre is one of the few artforms where both the artist and the audience can be moved simultaneously, while existing in the same time and space. Every person in that room gets a unique experience with the same piece, like a canvas being painted from a million different angles.”

-Bailey Lohmann

Actors mug for the camera at West Village Theatre in Calgary on Saturday, May 6, 2017. The photo booth was part of a celebration rounding out Calgary Young People’s Theatre’s 25th season. (Photo by Rob Galbraith/Little Guy Media)

Actors perform a scene from The Incredible Speediness of Jamie Cavanaugh at West Village Theatre in Calgary on Wednesday, April 26, 2017. The Calgary Young People’s Theatre production runs from April 27-May 6, 2017. (Photo by Rob Galbraith/Little Guy Media)