Another Opening, Another Show

Kristine Arnold knows how to wear different hats--a lot of different hats.

Next week she will play one of the leads in a musical version of “The Secret Garden” at Newport Harbor High School. A month later, she will portray Sandy in “Grease,” for the Musical Theater Academy production.

A few weeks after that, she will be Snow White in the musical of the same name at her school.

For someone 16, “that’s a lot of hats to wear,” said her mother, Carole Arnold.

Kristine began singing and acting at 5, winning rave reviews.

“On stage, she radiates,” said Vickie Groskreutz, who has directed Kristine in two productions at the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse. “Her singing voice is outstanding.”

Kristine credits a decade of work. She trained for six years with the South Coast Repertory Young Conservatory Players and has sung in choruses at Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm.

Her talent extends to serious roles too. To get in character, she hangs her head and closes her eyes for a few seconds of meditation. Then she raises her head and delivers an emotional monologue from “The Diary of Anne Frank.”

She then switches to a lighter character, belting out lines for Ursula in “Bye Bye Birdie.”

“This is a kid who wants to be on stage,” said Gail Bower, drama teacher at Newport Harbor High. “She has undeniable talent.”

Her classmates recognize her as a presence on stage. “You can’t help noticing her,” said Heather Jordan, 17, who will play alongside Kristine in next week’s musical at the school’s Robert B. Wentz Theatre.

Kristine also stands out because she has her own way of getting into character. While actors generally work up to portraying a particular personality, Kristine is more likely to make an overnight transformation.

“Sometimes she shows up three days before a play and blows us away,” Heather said.

That has occasionally made coaches and fellow actors fear that Kristine might not be ready for a show. Her mother said that may be related to Kristine’s attention deficit disorder, a condition with symptoms like distractibility and hyperactivity.

Kristine is matter-of-fact about the disorder. “It seems that it’s more of a burden to them than it is to me,” she said, though she admits that “cold-reading” a play for the first time and memorizing lines are more challenging for her than for her peers.

“It frustrates me,” said Kristine, who was honored as the school’s best female actor and best supporting female actor last year. “Before I memorize my lines, I have to pretend to be that person . . . ,” she said. “But then I think and feel and totally become that character.”