ELKHART —
Elkhart and the Elkhart Civic Theatre are her “roots,” said Audrey Whitby, 16-year-old star of the Disney Channel’s “So Random!” sketch comedy show.
“It’s where I’m from,” she said by phone interview. “I miss being there. It’s my roots — I’m excited to come back.”
Whitby returns to the area today to host an outreach event at the Church Community Services food warehouse in Elkhart, held in conjunction with the ECT. She, alongside co-star Allisyn Ashley Arm, will lead a sketch comedy workshop, sign autographs and meet with fans from 4 to 5:30 p.m., according to a press release from the ECT.
“Audrey has told me so many stories about Elkhart and the Theatre,” Arm said. “I can’t wait to see it, and to teach the kids all about sketch comedy.”
The only cost to attend the program is a non-perishable food donation to the food pantry and $1 to the ECT Glenn Gosling and Lillian Conley Scholarship Fund, according to the press release.
Whitby said the sketch comedy workshop will teach children all about sketch comedy, from how to perform the skits to how the shows are set up.
“We’re going into how to do it,” she said. “When you do sketch comedy, you have to give it your all.”
Arm said they help make the children less shy about performing.
“We’re getting with a bunch of kids and teaching them,” she said. “We’re encouraging them to be loud, to amp it up and have fun.”
Starring on “So Random!” helped Whitby in many ways, she said.
“It was such a wonderful experience, working for Disney,” she said. “Every week on the show was a new character, a new costume and a new funny voice. I also met my best friend on the show, Allisyn. It’s such a wonderful experience.”
Arm agreed.
“I’ve worked with Disney for around four years,” she said. “‘So Random!’ was a wonderful experience, and I loved meeting all my cast members. It was like Halloween every day on the set with the fun costumes.”
The series finished this year, but both Whitby and Arm have more projects coming up.
“I’m working on a new animated series called ‘Jake and the Never Land Pirates,’” Arm said.
“I guest-starred on a new pilot called ‘Dog With a Blog,’” Whitby added. “It is incredibly funny.”
Recently, Whitby and Arm have spent most of their time preparing for the tour.
“I love any excuse to travel with my best friend,” Arm said.
The tour may even continue, Arm said. Whitby and Arm visited Washington, D.C. and Tennessee before heading to Elkhart. In Washington, the girls met with more than 4,000 Girl Scouts for the “Rock the Mall” event.
“(Rock the Mall) was so fun,” Whitby said. “We got to meet so many girls.”
With so much popularity, the girls said they are considering expanding it to more cities.
“We had a lot of posts on Twitter and online from kids asking why we were going to Tennessee and Elkhart, when we could go to New York or Los Angeles,” Arm said. “We’ll take this trip as an experiment, and then we’ll consider going on a bigger tour.”
Being a role model is what makes all of the travel worth it, Whitby said.
“I had a little girl come up to me and say, ‘You made my day,’” she said. “We like putting smiles on kids’ faces. That’s what makes it all worth it.”
Local News
Related Photos
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Audrey Whitby, right, star of the Disney Channel’s “So Random!” and former Elkhart resident, will return to her hometown Saturday, along with her costar, Allisyn Ashley Arm, left. Photo submitted
Disney star returns to her theater roots
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