Every year, San Marino’s Hart Family of San Marino schedules its vacation around Richard Seymour’s Summer Theater Camp.
The Hart siblings—Charlotte, 12, and Piper, 9—participate annually in the camp which is produced by San Marino Community Theater Co. The sisters share a love of theater and aspire to someday perform on Broadway.
Charlotte has earned the role as the female lead two years in a row at the camp, which she’s been attending the past four years. She played Laurey Williams in the recent production of “Oklahoma!” and Rosie in last summer’s “Bye Bye Birdie.”
Piper has attended the camp for the past three years, playing an ensemble character named Millie this year and a fan the previous year.
The Hart sisters were familiar with the songs of “Oklahoma!” because they were also in Seymour’s fall musical showcase, in which the musical’s songs were also sung.
“I like being able to put together a show and work really hard toward it,” Charlotte said. “In the end, you have this great product that you’ve made.”
The girls also act in original musicals at Pasadena Civic Ballet Musical Theatre, with their latest performance being “Only in Oz.”
Charlotte and Piper said their favorite musical that they’ve performed in so far was “Bye Bye Birdie.”
“The songs are really well-written and they’re fun to sing,” Charlotte said. “It’s a really well-written show and there’s a lot of action.”
“I really like it because of the songs, too,” Piper said. “It kind of had some funny jokes. I like those.”
Charlotte piqued Piper’s interest in theater.
“She talked about it at home a lot and it seemed very fun,” Piper said. “I just wanted to try it out and I really liked it.”
Charlotte and Piper seem to have picked up their interest in theater and performing from their father, Matthew Hart, and maybe a little from their mother, Daphne Stewart.
“He had a band in college and he likes to sing and act,” Charlotte said of her father. “He plays the guitar and he writes music.”
Stewart participated in some musicals when she was attending school, but said she now enjoys attending musicals and sing-alongs.
Piper hopes to one day be a female lead like her sister.
“There’s an advantage to being in the ensemble because you get all the great chorus parts and big dance numbers which you often don’t get when you’re one of the leads,” Stewart pointed out. “We talk about that a lot at home, about how you get to be by yourself on stage, but you miss out on some of the fun numbers.”
Charlotte will be going into seventh grade at Polytechnic School and Piper will be heading into fourth grade at Valentine Elementary School.
Stewart and her daughters said San Marino is lucky to have San Marino Community Theater Co. and Seymour.
“Thank you, Mr. Seymour, for being an awesome director,” Piper said.
“And for putting this together for all the kids that really, really like it,” Charlotte added.
The Hart sisters listed the Broadway musicals of “Wicked,” “Matilda” and “Hamilton” as some of their favorites.
“We like listening to songs from ‘Hamilton,’ but we haven’t seen it,” Piper said.
They saw “Wicked” and “Matilda” on Broadway when they visited New York City over Thanksgiving two years ago.
The family is planning to visit London this summer and see another musical.
