'I was just deep breathing'

By CHRIS ZUPPA, Times Staff Photographer
Published August 7, 2007

During her summer break, Alex Muscaro, 10, participated in the Patel Conservatory Youth Theater Company Jr. program. Here, she watches from the wings of the Ferguson Hall stage at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, waiting to play her part as the Mother Goose nursery rhyme character of the old woman who lived in a shoe. The story, in Alex's words: I was just deep breathing. I was closing my eyes and deep breathing, just like pulling in deep breaths and letting it out very slowly. All my friends tell me they feel like they're going to be sick before going on because this is their first time. I tell them this is a feeling you get, and you should do deep breathing to calm yourself. You get used to it, the more plays you do. This was actually my first solo song. The first time I realized that, I was just so happy, I was like, "Oh my Gosh! This was the first time I'm going to get a solo!"

[Last modified August 7, 2007, 00:06:17]