By Kathy King Johnson
Katie Cederholm Mallory from Conklin, Michigan, first set foot on the Opera House stage in the Northland Players production of “Chicago” in 2009. Katie said, “I could feel the history when I first got the opportunity to step on the stage in ‘Chicago.’ I was one of the dancers and we were rehearsing and reworking the dances to fit the stage. The first one was ‘All I Care About is Love’ with Billy, played by Bernie Hepburn.
Joni Reed (who is plain awesome) was the choreographer and we were on the actual stage, on the floor, a lot. We even had Bernie on our backs and rolled him across us at one point. It’s always a lot of waiting and figuring out and needing to be quiet while all that goes on.
Here I was laying on the floor of that stage, looking up at the lights (sometimes upside down in that dance!). I felt just about every one of the ‘ghosts’ of everyone who had been there before. I felt small from being one of so many, over so many years, yet connected in a way with the people of the past who stood right there. Then I was put right back in my time and place as the music started again.”