{"id":20546,"date":"2017-07-20T14:27:09","date_gmt":"2017-07-20T18:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=20546"},"modified":"2024-07-02T16:36:32","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T16:36:32","slug":"syc-cornells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=20546","title":{"rendered":"Jeff and Kira Cornell: A natural fit"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Summer<\/a>
This is the first Summer Youth Conservatory for high schooler Kira Cornell, left. (Photo by HuthPhoto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Summer Youth Conservatory<\/a>\u00a0student Kira Cornell is not exactly new to PlayMakers Repertory Company.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been coming here since I was three,\u201d said PlayMakers\u2019 youngest and fiercest fan. \u201cI\u2019ve been here for a really long time and I\u2019ve seen a lot of shows.\u201d After all, her dad is PlayMakers\u2019 resident acting company member Jeffrey Blair Cornell, most recently seen as Henry Higgins in our widely acclaimed production of\u00a0My Fair Lady<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Kira Cornell (photo by HuthPhoto)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen she was little, Kira used to hang out in the green room before a show I was doing and then she would maybe decide to see act two,\u201d said Jeff. \u201cSo she\u2019d just go through the catwalk to stage left then just grab and open seat in the back. We would call it her seat. That last row in the upper part by the door. She\u2019d just slip right in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

From spouting the plot of\u00a0Romeo & Juliet<\/em>\u00a0in her kindergarten class to getting lost among the vintage clothing in costume storage, it seemed only natural that Kira would follow her father into the biz. \u201cI started doing theatre backstage instead of onstage,\u201d Kira said. But over her experiences backstage, she slowly took more and more notice of what was happening onstage. \u201cI thought, \u2018That looks pretty cool!\u2019 and decided I wanted to be onstage. So I\u2019ve been taking acting classes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Jeffery Blair Cornell<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Having seen so many SYC productions throughout the years, the Theatre Intensive has been in her sights since she started middle school. As a rising freshman, she was finally able to audition for this year\u2019s production of\u00a0Bye Bye Birdie<\/a><\/em>. First time out, first time in. Kira landed a role in the all singing, all dancing ensemble.<\/p>\n

What does Dad think of it all? \u201cShe\u2019s grown up in this building as a playspace. Whether it be the studios or coming to rehearsals in the rehearsal hall,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s always been here, so for her to actually be in rehearsal for herself seems pretty appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kira seems to be taking to the actor\u2019s life pretty well. All the students are held to the same standards as our professional actors, expected to show up on time, sign in, and rehearse for eight hours a day, plus fitting and all the \u201cfussing over\u201d them, as Jeff put it. Kira loves it. \u201cRehearsing for eight hours a day gives you more time to work and more time to connect with your character,\u201d she said. \u201cIt also makes it feel professional.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSeriously though,\u201d said Jeff, \u201cfor kids who are thinking about it as a career, this is it. It\u2019s not what you were doing in high school. As hard as you\u2019ve been working in high school that\u2019s sort of secondary.\u201d<\/p>\n

See Jeff in the audience (probably) and Kira on stage with the rest of the Summer Youth Conservatory in\u00a0<\/em>Bye Bye Birdie<\/a>. All tickets $15.\u00a0Get yours today.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

— Story from PlayMakers Repertory Company<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summer Youth Conservatory student Kira Cornell is not exactly new to PlayMakers. After all, her dad is PlayMakers\u2019 resident acting company member Jeffrey Blair Cornell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":20549,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fine-arts-humanities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20546"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48170,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20546\/revisions\/48170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}