Getting To Know Fagin's Gang | An Interview Series | Feature #11 | Riley Kosmicki

Two sibling interviews in one week!? We know, crazy right? But do you want to know something even crazier..? Oliver! opens tomorrow and we could not be more excited! So let’s jump into today’s feature, the other superb Kosmicki sibling in our show, Riley! Riley is 8 years old and super excited to be a part of this production of Oliver! She told me, “it’s very fun.” She also said that her favorite song to perform is “Pick a Pocket” because “I get to pick Fagin’s pocket, and everyone is paying attention to me when I do that.” One song she had to work extra hard on was the dance break in “Consider Yourself” where the choreography can be kind of challenging but she has finally nailed it. I asked her what it was like balancing school and rehearsal since this has been a pretty rigorous rehearsal process for the kids. She told me that depending on the day, either her mom or dad will come and pick her and Rowan up from school and then they will eat, pack their bags for rehearsal and then head to the theatre. I asked when she had time to do her homework and she told me, “I usually finish it at school so I don’t have to do it later,”

which I think it very smart and organized. This is Riley’s first show ever, which is very exciting and she is doing a wonderful job! She found out about the audition when they came to the theatre and saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and saw the audition notice for Oliver!. As mentioned in Rowan’s feature, Riley’s mother was in our spring production of Perfect Wedding so the Kosmickis are no stranger to the Greenville Theatre. You also may have read about Riley’s heartwarming audition story in Rowan’s feature but if not we will recount it for you here. “My first time ever on stage for the audition I got stage fright and Rowan came up and helped me sing “Consider Yourself”,” she told me. At the audition, Riley who is typically the more outgoing of the two was unable to finish singing her audition

song and burst into tears on stage. Ms. Suzanne, our director, called Rowan to join his little sister.

Rowan went right up on stage and held Riley’s hand while they sang her audition song together guaranteeing them both a slot in the kid’s ensemble. It was a moment that certainly made her thankful to have her big brother in the show with her, despite how hard it can be to get along with siblings most of the time. I asked her how excited she was when she found out she got in the show. “REALLY EXCITED,” she told me with a big grin on her face and told me she especially enjoys the singing and jumping around moments in the show!

When Riley isn't performing she loves playing games on her tablet and hanging out with her friends, especially playing on the trampoline. On her tablet, she likes watching YouTube and playing all sorts of games. Her current favorite one to play is called Minion Rush. She also enjoys playing sports, she plays soccer and does gymnastics. She will join her soccer team right after Oliver! closes so she is really looking forward to playing with her friends. She also enjoys swimming in the pool and at the beach in the summer. She even told me a couple stories about surviving some giant waves with her mother that has us all chuckling! Riley has been doing gymnastics since she was about 3 years old and told me that now she can do a back handspring, cartwheel, handstand, roundoff back handsprings, and is currently working on her back tuck. Practicing that last one mainly on her parents bed while her dad helps spot her to make sure she doesn’t fall. I asked her if she ever gets scared when she is working on tricks like this and how she conquers her fears. She told me, “Sometimes. Sometimes I think I’m gonna land on my face. But then I think in my head ‘Im gonna do it’ and I think of me landing it and I do it.” These are some amazing words of wisdom that can be applied to so many things in life. In addition to gymnastics, Riley also does cheerleading. She cheered in a camp this past summer for the Eastside Eagles. She told me she nullhad a lot of fun, and really enjoys the friends

she gets to cheer with. She even has three sets of pom-poms, so she really is all set! Riley told me some of her favorite musicals to listen to are Hamilton, Oliver!, and sometimes Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She told me that she has liked working with a lot of the cast members that she saw onstage at Joseph that are also now in Oliver! like Mackenzie Smith, Craig Smith, and Carter Allen. To finish up our interview I asked Riley what word she would use to describe Oliver!. She told me with a big smile, “Magnificent.”

So come and see our magnificent show of Oliver! with a very magnificent Riley Kosmicki opening tomorrow, Friday, March 1st here at Greenville Theatre.