Mallory Johnson is hoping to bring some of what she had learned during performances with The Cormiers for the past decade to the stage of the Stephenville Theatre Festival this summer.
While she was born and raised in Conception Bay South, where she still lives with her parents, she has strong ties to Codroy Valley where her mother Loretta (Cormier) Johnson, grew up.
At the age of 11, she started performing with The Cormiers and still today, whenever they can get together, they do gigs – mostly at festivals. As the members of the group are now strewn about that don't happen as often as it used to.
The Cormiers have won six Music Newfoundland and Labrador Awards since 2005 and were nominated for an East Coast Music Award in 2008.
Mallory performed with their group at the Arts and Culture in Stephenville some years back, but this is the 21-year-old's first season with Stephenville Theatre Festival.
At the festival she's singing in the country show entitled "Heading West." She's acting and singing in the children's show "If You Could Wear My Sneakers" and she's playing keyboard in the featured musical "Songs for a New World."
But this is not new to her, as she's been doing musicals since the age of seven with theatre companies in St. John's – including Peter MacDonald Productions, Theatre St. John's and Spirit of Newfoundland Productions.
Her most recent work was performing in "Fame" with Keith Pike of Theatre St. John's back in May of this year, which he directed. It was there she found out about the audition process for the Stephenville Theatre Festival, for which Pike is artistic director this year.
Country show
"There's nothing like live performances – it's living the life." - Mallory Johnson
Country is obviously Mallory’s favourite genre of music and that is why she's looking forward so much to the country show opening at the festival on July 19. She said her family already has tickets purchased to see the show and feels once it get going is when the long hours of rehearsals will pay off.
"There's nothing like live performances – it's living the life," she said.
While she's going to Memorial University of Newfoundland working towards a degree in education, she sees teaching as her Plan B.
It's country music that she really wants to pursue first and hopes to eventually make it big in the industry, "but if not I feel it's smart to have a degree."
For now she's pretty excited about the country show at the festival and said it's a sign she's taking after her momma, as her musical side really comes from her mom's side of the family.
Mallory’s proud to be on the west coast of the island for the summer and said being in Stephenville is like "being home in the (Codroy) Valley," where she normally gets to every summer around the time of the folk festival there.
"I like to get there as often as possible but between school and doing shows it's been difficult the past couple of years, especially at Christmas," she said.
Mallory has made a number of friends at the festival already and has no complaints at all about it. She said the company is really like one big family.
Doing a children's show is new to her but she feels she's up to the challenge and is looking forward to that opportunity as well.
