For the last 25 years, the Old Globe Theater in Balboa Park has shown Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” This year, the cast includes a special girl who wants to inspire other children to follow their dreams.
With more than six years of experience in professional dancing and one year in musical theater, Ellis Quesada is ready for the spotlight. But auditioning for a role in the classic Dr. Suess tale about the meaning of Christmas was once thought to be a Mt. Crumpit-sized obstacle.
At just 2 months old, Quesada was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, a life-threatening inherited disorder that damages the lungs and digestive system.
“My parents kept me in a bubble,” she said. “They were very cautious. They didn’t want me to be hospitalized at that point they didn’t know if I was going to do anything drastic, like this.”
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Now, dancing and singing in the play she fell in love with years ago is “like a dream.”
“They said, ’You got in,’ on the speaker, and I said, ‘Is this a prank? Don’t tell me is a prank. I am going to cry,’” the 12-year-old from Coronado said, explaining the moment she found out she was cast as Little Who.
Quesada and her mother Christina did cry, but they were tears of happiness, not only because this little girl was chosen for the part over hundreds of other children, but because Quesada is not like every other girl.
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“If you don't want to do something because you're nervous, you should do it even more, because it shows that you care about the thing that you’re doing, and if you’re not nervous you should probably not even being doing it in the first place,”
You have until the end of the year to catch Ellis and the rest of the cast in “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”
