- April 25, 2024
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Seabreeze High School students Sammie Mignardi and Tara Perna, of Ormond Beach, star in “Crimes of the Heart,” opening Friday, Nov. 9.
BY MIKE CAVALIERE | ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Two Ormond Beach teenagers will get a chance to adapt a Pulitzer Prize-winning play this weekend, on the Seabreeze High School Auditorium stage, at 2700 N. Oleander Ave.
Sammie Mignardi and Tara Perna star in the black comedy “Crimes of the Heart,” which is about a sister who kills her husband because she “doesn’t like his looks.” The show opens 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 9.
“I’ve lived in Ormond Beach my whole life,” 16-year-old Sammie Mignardi said, over text message. She started acting when she was 13 years old, after dancing in a church play and wishing she had lines.
More than anything about acting, she just likes being onstage, she says. And she never gets stagefright — which is similar to Perna, who’s also 16, has lived in Ormond Beach since she was 8 and says she feels more confident onstage than off
“I love acting because it’s what I’m good at, and it’s my passion,” she said. “I feel much more confident onstage because I am a different person. It’s fun to see what it’s like to be someone so different from yourself.”
Although Perna says she knew since the second grade that she wanted to be a performer, she didn’t get the opportunity to finally take the stage until an eighth-grade summer camp.
But now, she's in for the long haul.
“After I graduate, I am studying abroad in England for at least a year,” she said. “And if I’m not famous by then, I plan on going to college in New York for acting and then continue with either acting or singing.”
A future physical therapy major, Mignardi (who is also officer of Seabreeze High School’s Center Stage theater group) hopes to attend Auburn University or Florida State University after high school. She also plans to minor in theater.
After opening night, “Crimes of the Heart” will run 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10 and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11.
