By day, Collin Seaman helps keep the County’s information systems running smoothly. By night, he recently transformed into Rooster — the fast-talking, slick villain in the community theater production of the musical “Annie.”
Seaman, who joined the County as an information system analyst in August, performed in the show Dec. 5-7 at Center for the Arts in Grass Valley. The Lyric Rose Community Theatre production ran one weekend only.
Rooster is a fast-talking con man who disguises himself as orphan Annie’s long-lost father in order to collect a reward. His big song is “Easy Street,” a comic number in which he, his girlfriend (played by his real-life girlfriend Dakota Lynch) and sister gleefully fantasize about scamming their way into a life of luxury.
“It is so much fun to play a character playing another character,” said Seaman, who has been acting 12 years – since he performed in “The Wizard of Oz” in his first role as Uncle Henry. “This is also the first time I’ve ever sang a villain song on stage, and I had a blast.”
Balancing a full-time County job with rehearsals for a major musical was no small feat. While his rehearsal schedule was lighter than some cast members at first, things quickly intensified during the final stretch.
“For the last week or so of the rehearsal process, I spent the vast majority of my free time preparing for the show,” he said.
Many evenings followed the same routine: straight from work to the theater, into costume and microphones, and then full run-throughs of the production. Thanks to thoughtful support from his girlfriend who delivered snacks between scenes, Seaman powered through, often not sitting down to dinner until around 9:30 p.m.
No other performances are on the horizon in the near future, however, as he wants to take a break from balancing so many responsibilities.
He is enjoying working for the County. “It’s rewarding to help the community and to solve the kinds of technical issues that I work on every day,” he said.