Spotlight on Natalie Caruncho

Natalie Caruncho is in both casts, playing Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet" and Young Lizzy in "The Bluest Water," and has been traveling around with Endstation, giving fun and interactive lectures to high schools around the area.

Natalie's first foray in the performing arts was in dancing, at a very young age. She attributes her early dancing to her mother, who's a dancer. She was then introduced to musical theatre, and worked in that area throughout middle school and high school. Her inspirational high school teacher, Mr. Troy Fisher, first put the thought of acting into her head, but it wasn't until Natalie took a straight acting class in college that she really decided to make it her major. She recently graduated from Florida State University with a BFA in Acting. I asked her why she did acting, and I think her answer is much more impressive than any paraphrase I could offer, so I'm going to quote her: "I think in a world where we are so desensitized by movies and film and cardboard Starbucks cups, we need to be reminded of our humanity, and come in contact with people and feelings, and be challenged to think about people. I think that's the power of theatre: we can transport people and give them permission to feel and dream and hurt and think."

Natalie in "The Birds," pictured right.

Natalie met Geoffrey Kershner at FSU while he was getting his MFA in Directing. She then got to work with him on Aristophanes' "The Birds" and shortly after that, Geoff asked both Natalie and Michael to audition for Endstation's summer works, and they both ended up getting roles in both shows (Michael is playing Romeo and Young Bobby/Nathan Fictner/Tyler). Natalie loves the newness of Endstation, and appreciates the chance to learn about the inner-workings of a fresh theatre company because one day, she'd like to create her own work. To her, the Endstation opportunities made for a dream job right out of college.

Natalie's death pose.

Adding to her dreamlike summer, Juliet is a--you guessed it--dream role for Natalie. R&J is taking a lot of her effort right now (she's only been to two Bluest Water rehearsals) because of the work it takes interpreting the language and researching the time period, not to mention getting off book. But Natalie finds it amazing that she gets to create her dream role, and not only that, but star opposite one of her best friends and "a wonderful, wonderful actor." "I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks," Natalie said, "I think we'll have a blast."

Kirin McCrory
Endstation Blogger