Spotlight On: Whitney Winfield
Her mother agrees.
“Watching a kid’s confidence grow, seeing
them grow into their personalities,
it’s amazing to watch,” Barbara Winfield
said.
Eventually, the hard work paid off for
Whitney, then a Barron Collier High
School student, when she gained admission
to Interlochen, a boarding school for
the arts in Michigan.
“It was everything I dreamed it would
be,” she said.
Upon graduation, she attended Pace University
in Manhattan. And shortly after
earning her degree in musical theatre,
she was cast as Princess Fiona in the
Broadway National Tour of the musical,
Shrek.
She’s been busy acting since — with
roles such as Katherine in Newsies and
Emma in Jekyll and Hyde — with a few
teaching gigs sprinkled throughout.
Her upcoming return to Naples will include
a vocal coaching workshop at The
Naples Players.
Whitney said the class will focus on
channeling emotion when singing a song
on stage. It’s open to all experience levels
from teens to adults. Participants should
come prepared with a song and be ready
to perform it.
While she’s in town, Whitney will also
perform at TheatreZone in a production
of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, based on
an unfinished novel by Charles Dickens.
Whitney also plans to spend time with
family while in Southwest Florida, including
her mother Barbara Winfield,
who continues to volunteer at The Naples
Players after years of watching her
daughter perform here.
She went from carpooling kids to rehearsals
and auditions to later working
with the backstage crew and as a dresser.
“I love the hustle and bustle of moving
big sets,” she said. “They call me Backstage
Barbie.”
In the meantime, Whitney is eager to return
home and lend her skills to future
stars.
“Why wouldn’t I go back to exactly where
it started for me?” she said.
Spotlight On: Whitney Winfield
Winfield in 2009 during TNP’s production of
Thoroughly Modern Millie.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
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