Hello, Everyone!
Today I'm very excited to announce the voice actress for Emelia Watson shall be Shakyra Dunn! This is the first casting announcement for The Trio, and one of the last announcements to come for the previous casting call. But enough about that, let's talk about Shakyra! Shakyra if I'm not mistaken reached out about auditioning for PSA because one of our amazing cast members had mentioned the project to her. Which I mean I'm incredibly thankful for because she ended up being the perfect fit! She brings a real authenticity to the character. A lot of great VAs auditioned for Emelia, but Shakyra for me was the one that when I heard it, it just fit so perfectly. Just looking at the character and hearing the voice it was like, "yeah that's totally how I'd imagine her to sound." And there was an approachability to her voice, and this sort of innate humbleness? That made Emelia feel less of this sort of person that maybe with a different voice you'd feel like, "man I have no right even talking to this person." Maybe that sounds silly, but that's for me how voices can make certain characters feel. I would also say that I think Shakyra doesn't sound like she's acting it really feels like she's able to put herself in Emelia's shoes and sort of adopt her as a persona and capture that in audio. Emelia so far is one of the more emotionally demanding roles. I think all the roles are demanding in their own way I do try to cover a gambit of emotions with each one. But from my novice perspective anger is the hardest one to perform. And Emelia has plenty of that, though maybe anger isn't quite the right word, but it's within that emotional range. So the role required shouting and I think shouting is one of those things that (at least for me) really makes a great VA stand out from an okay one. Because you can't phone in a yell or anger, or you know rage like you just have to commit to the emotion and the scene, and you can tell instantly when someone doesn't. Emelia is very high-strung, and is dealing with two friends who are very relaxed, so already you know that who ever plays her is going to have to really perform. On top of that The Trio Route, sort of exists to critique a certain other magical school, and Emelia being very much this beacon of morality has strong opinions she will defend, and is very vocal. She's not going to let you just say something that she finds offensive or intolerant. And while PSA itself is a very welcoming and accepting place, that doesn't mean that all students are as morally infallible as you'd maybe expect. So yeah this role does demand a lot. And there's a whole other facet of you can't just yell and the emotion work, you really have to sell it. So again I think upon reflection the role does ask a lot. And Shakyra nailed it, I know she nailed it, because I found myself wincing at her emotionally charged performances. They felt so authentic and it's hard to pinpoint why that is exactly. But I think that just shows how hard it can be to explain sometimes why someone did such a fantastic job. And I'm not an actor so already my vocabulary and understanding of the craft is limited, I basically can just say, "yeah that to me was believable." And maybe that's the best praise one can give, Shakyra was believable. To the point where maybe I thought when writing "this is how a line should sound." To then hear Shakyra perform and be like, "alright then that's the reaction we're going with." When an actor just seems to get your character and adopt them as really their own, for me. I feel less tied to what I heard in my head as far as the dial on the emotion, if someone thinks, "you know I think this character would play it at a ten." At that point I'm comfortable with saying, "yeah you're probably right." I think too that maybe helps your characters feel more fleshed out because it's not just you dictating how they should talk, sound, react. You've now brought this other person in who's just a passionate to help you. Shakyra was just great and there's not really much else to it. I'm thrilled to have gotten to work with her on this. She joins a laundry list of people I look at and am like, "how f$@k did I get to work with them?" Which also means I get to say Shakyra Dunn welcome to Pleasant Sparkle Academy!
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