Two decades have passed since the Cantwells first walked through the doors of LACHSA — the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts — and revisiting the halls and theatre chair Lois Hunter has given them all the feels.
“It’s very emotional being back,” Dawn said after several long hugs.
In the early 2000s, the siblings were part of the music program and both credit the free public high school with giving them the foundation for their successful careers. These days, they are touring with the Broadway production of “1776” currently playing at the Ahmanson Theatre.
Dawn plays Colonel Thomas McKean of Delaware. Her younger brother, Ryan, is the music director and has been with the show since its inception.
But on a Friday morning at LACHSA, they are beaming alumni visiting their old stomping grounds, where they spoke with the current crop of theatre students about their careers and about the lessons they learned at the school.
“Lean in,” was Ryan’s advice. “This is the time to lean in.”
“Lean in hard,” Dawn echoed, “because stamina and resiliency in this world right now is crucial.”
The world right now may seem eons removed from a musical about the writing of the Declaration of Independence, but Dawn says it’s actually not. In fact, she says every day, every hour sometimes, she gets a news alert on her phone that adds a new perspective.
“We’re in like a perpetual state of the relevancy of this show, and how its relevancy continues to open itself up,” she said.
Making it even more relevant is the cast made up of people who were not in that Philadelphia room in 1776: woman, non-binary and transgender individuals, people of all races and backgrounds.
“It’s a reminder that we’re all in this together,” Ryan explained. “This show is multiple representations of gender, ethnicity and race. It’s kind of what this melting pot of the country is.”
Amanda Dayhoff, who is of both Mexican and European decent, describes herself as an example of that melting pot.
“You know, when I was little, I never saw somebody that looked like me on stage,” she said, “so I think it’s super special that all of our stories are being represented.”
Dayhoff recently joined the tour as a standby, covering several roles, including the one played by Dawn. An Orange County native, this is a kind of homecoming for her as well.
“I was really lucky to have a mom who would always take me to see live shows,” she beamed. One of the first shows she saw at the Ahmanson was Les Misérables and since then she’s dreamed a dream of performing here.
She recently posted a photo of younger self taken on the Les Miz red carpet. “I like compared that one to my current one that I just took,” she said giddily. “And I was like, Look at how far we’ve come! It’s so cool!”
Traveling throughout the city, she loves seeing the “1776” posters with its diverse cast standing in power poses.
“I see our world reflected. I see so many different colors, and so many different people,” she explained. “Usually when we see portraits of John Hancock and John Adams, it’s white men. But look at these faces. It’s not just a story for men. This is a story for all people.”
The country has come a long way, she says from the days depicted in the show, but she admits it’s still has a long way to go and she recognizes the responsibility that comes with telling this story this way.
“We are privileged with the ability to stand on that stage as our bodies, as who we are and say ‘Hey, we’re a part of this story, too.’”
It’s a sentiment echoed in the show in one of Dawn’s favorite scenes.
“There’s a line that Abigail has about, remember the ladies,” she quotes. “The essence of it is don’t put so much authority in the hands of men, because they will abuse it. And I remember when I first heard that line… two things happened. I started crying, and I went crazy.”
Now she feels that same electricity from audiences, especially in Los Angeles. As soon as the cast is revealed, “people go crazy,” she said. “They’re just so excited to see that multitudinous representation on stage.”
Ryan began working on the show in 2020 and has seen it grow and change. They had time to reflect on the pandemic, on George Floyd, on elections and legislation and Supreme Court decisions.
“The document is a living, breathing document,” he said of the Declaration of Independence. “We were very much trying to being a living, breathing show, adapting and absorbing what was happening around us and trying ways to make sure that we’re acknowledging it, honoring it, challenging it.”
And challenging audiences to not only reexamine the past but to think about our own role in writing the future.