REVIEW: Broadway Veteran Praises PTPT’s Carrie
Written by Mirla Criste | July 11, 2026
“If you contact me directly, I'll be happy to chat about the reasons I couldn't see very much youth theatre in town in recent years. That said, I have one or two windows now...😉
Bought my ticket for CARRIE: THE MUSICAL (ticket link below) yesterday morning for that evening's performance. I'd been so slammed, the weekend just snuck up on me. I was eager to see what Emilia Torello's PTPT Apprentice Company had come up with as its first fully produced performance project.
The theatre community has been fed some incredibly talented youngsters by the academic theatre programs at UNCW and CFCC, the youth training arms of Thalian Association and Opera House, the various secondary school theatre programs, and the plethora of independent theatre programs for kids.
Friends, you probably knew this, but assuming some of these young people stick around for a while, the future of Wilmington theatre is SAFE. Its future is in the darn capable hands of this town's next generation of thespians. PTPT Studio may be the new kid on the block, but the Apprentice Company's CARRIE solidifies that notion in no uncertain terms.
Among other things, I'm a theatre professor by trade, and in that trade, we identify our students' production projects as labs, in which they get the chance to apply what they've learned in their classes with us.
CARRIE's creative staff are PTPT trainees, each paired with a mentor - a genius idea, extending their training right into the actual lab. I was particularly struck by how Apprentice Director Esme Madi and Apprentice Choreographers Kalyn Dinkins and Cassidy Fisher handled the tough task of maintaining Life onstage. Not one principal nor ensemble character is ever standing around waiting for their turn to do something. Each character is fully alive, with a distinct persona, interacting with one another, inside their world at every moment, without ever taking the spotlight away from the central figures in each scene - a beautifully executed juggling act.
The adults are played by actors who are not teenagers (grin), and who have some of the best voices in the ILM - Katie Mahn, Brett Sicola, and Cindy Colucci, whose soaring, heart-stopping soprano probably broke a few glasses in the back room.
But the show is anchored by a trio of impressive young women in the prominent principal roles - Harbor Chandler as Sue, the play's contrite narrator; Haley Schnur as Chris, the mean-girl antagonist; and tiny Savannah Ashworth in the title role, with a voice of liquid gold, deftly alternating between shrinking wallflower and courageous rebel. All three sing like birds (kudos to Apprentice Musical Director Kendra Bentley) and all three wholly invest in their characters' journeys.
The audience was on its feet almost before the curtain call began. I suspect the folks around me felt as I did - that the evening of theatre that is PTPT's CARRIE offers just one exciting example of where the seeds of Wilmington's theatre future lie.
Two more chances to see the show. It absolutely will sell out if it hasn't already - so, you know, hurry: https://www.thalianhall.org/ptpt-carrie-26”
—Mirla Criste, Original Broadway Cast of Miss Saigon
