Feaster Charter School has its upcoming musical with its second through eight grades students as they are working on the production of “Madagascar JR,” a theatrical piece with drama, music, dance and everything that goes with a theater production scheduled for May 26-28.
Feaster Charter School performing arts teacher Kasey Viani is a professional entertainer and the founder and director of Viani’s Performing Arts Academy where she teaches character, dance, theater, voice music theory, audition preparation, and helps with portfolio development. And she brought another entertainment professional to the school March 18.
Misty Rosas is the performance star in “The Mandalorian,” performing for the character Kuiil in Season 2, and Frog Lady in Season 2, which earned her 2021 Hollywood Critics Association award for her work on the television series. “The Mandalorian” became the first non-Netflix show to top the Nielsen Streaming Chart for its Season 2 finale in December 2021.
“The Mandalorian is a show that is familiar to the original Star Wars fan as far as the way it looks, and the story,” said Rosas. “I think that is why everyone gravitated towards it so quickly. What is unique about the story is that they chose characters that are more of the side characters in the Star Wars community in those storylines, but not as main characters.”
Viani said that Rosas’ experience in the industry is something she wants her to share with her students. Rosas’ portfolio consists of acting in movie and television, and more. She is an actor, dancer, stunt person, motion capture artist, singer, songwriter, producer. The list of her abilities in the entertainment industry is long and diverse. She performed in the movies “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” “Van Helsing,” and animated series “Sid the Science Kid,” and “Word Party.” Rosas earned two Telly Awards for her “Panic Button” music video.
Viani said Rosas’ credentials go on and on. They both started their careers together dancing together at “Fantasmic” at Disneyland, where Viani was Snow White and Rosas King Louie.
Viani said Rosas will talk to various age groups on campus, then at the end of the day spending the bulk of her time with the school’s performing arts students talking about her journey, how she broke into the business, has sustained success, and how she obtained job opportunities.
“Basically, giving these kids tips on what it takes to be successful if you truly want to break into entertainment,” she said. “Intertwined with all of this is life skills. Be on time for work. Be hard working. Stay humble. She will dive into those components with our kids so that they can think. You must apply all these skills to work successfully in entertainment.”
Viani said Rosas can bring to the table about the “gigantic gap” between the education of the performing arts and working in the business.
“That is why I bring professionals down to talk to my kids on how you move through that gap,” she said. “I am trying to build a way out of education in performing arts into working in the arts professionally and being paid. And I can speak to that. Kids leave on a high. They have all this experience with us in education, and then they spiral after that. Where do I go? Who do I talk to? Where do I audition? Who is a legitimate agent? They do not know where to start. That is why I build part of that into my curriculum. Building that career exploration and approach that they need to be prepared to be successful in the arts.”
Rosas said her career has not been linear, but mostly because when she gets a project, reads the script, whatever media, she says yes and wants to be a part of it. She said her first job was the movie “Congo,” and not having experience it was a “crash course” of everything that is film. After that, she said she went and sought out training and classes and would move back and forth between movies and television series. She said though it was like “flopping around” in the industry, the diversity of her choices led her to a continuous career in Los Angeles.
Rosas said she is looking forward to talking and working with the young students at the school. She said she can only talk about her journey, but there are many lessons learned with the path she took. She said it is a challenge to go from school and then begin your journey of getting your headshots taken and auditioning for shows.
“For these kids, I want them to know that it is extremely important to listen to their hearts,” she said. “I want them to know that it is okay to get the ‘No’s’. I have it written on bathroom mirror. As long as I have been in the industry, I have written 99 No’s on my bathroom mirror. You are going to get that and do not get discouraged by it. Every single artist is going to have that time of not getting a project, but in those 99 no, there is going to be a yes in there. Make sure that you are having fun.”
Rosas said after graduating from school, it is critical to continue training. She said whatever path you take in the industry, or where you go, seek out acting and dancing classes, voice lessons, whatever is needed to help to craft your chosen skill, as it is a lot of work.
“I have had this conversation a lot with my family,” she said. “They see it and think it is a lot of fun, and yes, it is so much fun, but it is so much work that people do not see behind the scenes. Making sure that you stay up, and stay in your joy, even when you are in the middle of the 99 ‘No’s,’ stay steady with your training in that firm belief that something is going to land, and you will get cast in something. But you cannot give up.”
