Brooke McCarthy’s voice was pouring into the parking lot of Woods Theatre when I arrived at our interview. She was upstairs finishing a voice lesson before our interview, a hobby that clearly paid off when she won the lead role in the Department of Music and Theatre’s spring production of “Little Shop of Horrors.”
When the lithe brunette came down to meet me five minutes late, she greeted me with a huge smile and immediately started apologizing for her lesson. I can’t really imagine anyone getting mad at such a welcoming and upbeat personality. Immediately, though, I can tell that, despite her business major, McCarthy is a theatre kid. She’s outgoing with the ability to speak to strangers very well. Just sitting next to her, I can almost feel all the energy she has bottled up.
Despite this, she was just a little terrified when she was given the role of Audrey for “Little Shop”. McCarthy has been involved in the theatre department throughout her four years at the university, but still, she feared that other classmates would be angry that she wasn’t still in the major.
McCarthy said, “For the first couple weeks of rehearsals, I was literally like ‘Oh my god, everyone probably hates me. I’m not even a major…I hope that they’re not holding that against me’ …but I think it ended up working out really well, and I think it helps that I’m really good friends with a lot of the people [in the play].”
Brandon Wiener, a junior, played McCarthy’s love interest in “Little Shop of Horrors”. Wiener said, “When I learned that Brooke was given the role of Audrey I was ecstatic because we had played opposite each other my freshmen year in ‘Crimes of the Heart’ and I couldn’t wait to rekindle that flame in ‘Little Shop.’ I thought she did an incredible job, and I cried when I [killed her character] every night.”
Ultimately, the production went on without any grudges. It isn’t as if McCarthy hasn’t earned her dues in Woods Theatre. Though she applied to Monmouth for the business school, she had a last minute change of heart just before starting. She decided to major in theatre before deciding to double major, but then decided to major in just business with a concentration in accounting and minors in musical theatre and Italian. To say that she has a variety of interests is an understatement.
Despite switching her major to business, she remained involved with theatre department productions, with secondary roles in various productions over the years, such as ‘Working’ and ‘Twelfth Night.’ Plus, the senior is very involved in the student-run theatre group, Boom Roasted Productions, where she finally got to merge her interests in theatre and finance as their financial director.
Her face lit up when she told me about their cabaret (though she was pretty excited about any topic I brought up). “We’re actually teaming up with the glee club on campus [for this event]. Me being a senior, I have a solo in our song ‘Let it Go’ which is really nice because I love [Disney’s “Frozen”]. It just came out and it’s like everyone’s obsession; I love it too, can’t even deny it,” she laughed.
It’s obvious at this point in our conversation that McCarthy knows how to juggle. So it’s unsurprising that she’s also the chair of the newly reactivated Accounting Society’s first networking event. “[The event is for employers] to try and get to know who we are instead of just some words on a paper,” she said. McCarthy sounds so proud of herself when she tells me how the event (which took place on April 17) will be in Wilson Hall with over 100 attendees, including alumni, students and business representatives. Not that McCarthy needs a job right away. After a summer internship at JP Morgan, she applied internally for another internship for this summer and beat out 200 applicants.
Of course, McCarthy isn’t just focused on school and work. She loves to travel. Growing up, both of her parents had pilots’ licenses. “We used to fly all over. I used to go to Puerto Rico a lot when I was little because my dad worked there, then we would fly to Indiana every summer because we have family out there, Dominican Republic, Florida a lot. I remember being a little kid and I would steer the plane,” she laughed.
It was only natural that the she would feel some wanderlust in college and study abroad. She said, “I went to Florence, Italy [for a semester] about two years ago now. I went all over Europe, eight countries, I think. That just reaffirmed that I love to travel.”
She loved putting her Italian minor to use, but now she misses being able to speak Italian so much. “That’s what I miss most: going to a restaurant. Because I would always find cool things to eat and I’d get to talk to the waiters [in Italian].”
McCarthy’s diet is a far cry from the typical ramen, coffee and vodka regimen. McCarthy is a vegetarian and a runner. She explained, “That’s become my new hobby lately. Honestly, I’ve never been so healthy in my life. I can tell you right now that I’m an energetic person, and I can tell you right n now that I have 10 times more energy. Once a semester, I usually lose my voice, which was scary for ‘Little Shop,’ because I’m not getting enough sleep or cramming…because I’m working out every morning and eating really healthy [that didn’t happen].”
McCarthy told me how she’s been slacking off on running since she started doing Crossfit (an intense workout program that focuses on strength and conditioning). However, she also told me that she ran ten miles on Sunday as part of her training for the Long Branch Half Marathon, and suddenly I wonder what McCarthy’s definition of slacking off is. She claims that she doesn’t really know how she juggles everything, and I find myself slightly envious of her energy.
Zoe Bulitt, Vice President of Boom Roasted Productions, has been friends with McCarthy for a few years and knows how hard the multitasker pushes herself. “Brooke is the craziest person I know (in a good way). She has so much on her plate and gets all of it done in the mere 24 hours in a day. And not only does she get it done, but she also puts her 100% into everything,” Bulitt said.
It doesn’t look like she’ll be slowing down anytime soon. McCarthy finished the Long Branch Half Marathon (13.1 miles) on Sunday in just under three hours.
PHOTO TAKEN from facebook.com
