Leigh Charlton, Reporter
@leighcourant
Sam’s throat is tight with fear; her heart races, and a scream is trapped within her panicked lungs. She stumbles through the heavy snow, desperate to alert her friends about the macabre, blood-spattered car she had chanced upon in the woods. Sam bursts inside the mansion, standing at her marker.
“Cut!” After hearing her director’s command, freshman and actress Sadie Seelert relaxes, no longer in her character, Sam. She is in Bedford, New York, on the set of her first professional movie, #Horror.
Sadie’s path to #Horror began at a young age. As a child, she was interested in being on stage and performing for other people. “I would always put on shows at home,” Sadie said. “My mom was and still is a singer. I got put into a little acting and singing class when I was younger and I just fell in love with it.”
Most of the young performer’s training has taken place at the Studio Performing Arts, a local arts instruction center that offers classes in musical theater, acting, voice, dance, and musical instruments. “I’ve been going there since I was six,” Sadie said. “I study everything there. I take acting, guitar, different types of dance, singing, everything. It’s been a huge asset because I get help from New York City professionals right in my hometown.”
Sadie has performed in school plays, local productions, and even on Broadway as Jane Banks in Mary Poppins. “Mary Poppins was an incredible experience, but I was so young,” Sadie said. “I was nine years old when I did it, and I didn’t get as much fulfillment from it because the experience was so long ago.”
Another one of Sadie’s major roles was Jo March in the Studio’s performance of Little Women. “It was such a great show because we put the production on in two weeks over the summer, and it had such a little, tight knit cast,” she said. “I think there were about ten people in the cast. It was the first time that I had ever played a leading lady role, and it was a great experience.”
Sadie also was the lead in the underclassmen play this year at the high school as the curly-haired redhead Annie, star of Annie Jr. “The high school productions are really great because you get to meet so many upperclassmen and you get so much help from Dee and Don, our directors,” she said. “It’s like a little family. It’s fun being on stage with your friends.”
For Sadie, acting in #Horror is a huge step forward from performing on local stages. She was urged by her manager to audition, received a callback, and was thrilled when she ultimately got the role. “It was such a great experience for me because it was the first professional film I had ever done. It really brought me into the whole world of the on-camera set, which is totally different from being on stage.”
The cast of #Horror spent two weeks rehearsing together over the past winter break , before completing filming in an exceptionally short time. “We spent two weeks rehearsing with the main six girls in the film and focused on getting the connections to be there,” Sadie said. “We had to be best friends, and we had just met each other. Then over winter break we filmed for three weeks. It was a really short filming process, so the days were very long. It was all worth it, though.”
Despite the short time they spent together, the cast grew close. Sadie remains in contact with the six other young actresses who played her friends in the movie. Though they filmed the movie over a year ago, the girls frequently text one another. “It was something that we all wanted to be doing. We were spending time with people that we love,” Sadie said.
In addition to actresses her own age, Sadie was also able to work with widely-acclaimed actors Timothy Hutton, Chloë Sevigny, and Natasha Lyonne. Hutton set a record when he became the youngest actor to receive an Academy Award for “Best Supporting Actor” in his role as Conrad Jarrett in Ordinary People. Chloë Sevigny, an actress, model, and fashion designer is well-known for her role in American Horror Story: Asylum. Lyonne plays Nicky Nichols on the popular Netflix series Orange is the New Black.
Sadie gained much from acting with professionals. “Working with them was incredible,” Sadie said. “When they actually got onscreen, they brought such an aura with them. When we were working with Chloë, she didn’t really say much to us, because she was so in character the whole time. The way she controlled the scene was inspiring and gave me someone to look up to.”
In working with these actors, Sadie realized that their professional skill was driving her to work harder. “With Timothy Hutton, we had no idea what he was going to do. There’s a scene where he comes in and screams at us. We had no idea that he was coming in. He came onscreen and improvised- he was yelling at all of us and method acting. The impact that he brought to the scene was incredible, and provided a great learning experience.”
Sadie plans to continue acting in both movies and high school productions in the future. For all of her acting experiences, she values the support of both family and friends. “It’s your family and friends who you rely on the most to get you through things,” she said. “They are the people who you trust to support you. They have been such a huge support in my life and I don’t think that I could be here without them.”
Sophomore and close friend Grace Rucci has tried to support her friend by helping Sadie balance her schoolwork with theater commitments. The two have been friends since a young age, when they began performing together at the Studio. “She has definitely inspired me,” Grace said. “She’s always so confident and when I look at her I see what I can be. I feel like whenever I help her to get a role she always is there for me. We know that one day we will probably be up against each other, which is scary, but we also know that our friendship will last.”
Sadie’s mentor and the director of the Studio, Lorah Haskins, is proud of Sadie’s performances. “I’ve been working with Sadie for about five and a half years,” Ms. Haskins said. “It’s been incredible to watch her grow. I went to the premier of the movie at the Museum of Modern Art and to see her up there, on the big screen, was amazing.”
