The Olivers are making performing a real family affair.

They’re all in the Theatre for Young Audiences production of CLICK, CLACK, MOO: COWS THAT TYPE. Read what they

have to say about performing together.

What character do you play?

Carly - I play Hen, one of the farm animals on strike.

Kelsey - Cow 2

Dane - Farmer Brown

What makes him/her the best character in the play?

Carly - I'm definitely the prima diva of the show, and costume designer Kelly Pantzlaff Curry, who is amazing, made me the best costume of all! - complete with a skyscraper-status Marie Antoinette wig and a chicken butt that probably goes a good two feet out behind my actually backside and has been known to wreak mild havoc knocking into props, the set, and other actors when I'm not playing attention to where I'm swinging it.

Kelsey - Cow 2 is the one who really takes action and does something about their situation. She's a fighter.

Dane - While everyone else is busy going on strike and getting electric blankets, I'm living through a character arc comparable to Ebenezer Scrooge, only without the gleaming positive outcome; poor Farmer Brown loses his marbles. It's delightful.

Why did you choose to do a children’s play?

Carly - I've actually wanted to do children's tour for a while, but it never fit into my schedule when I was an undergrad. But when I saw that J. Daniel Herring was directing a children's musical about farm animals on strike this semester, I had to audition! You don't very often get the chance to play a singing, dancing chicken, cow, or duck in theatre for adults. And children are such an appreciative (and forgiving!) audience. And it's really neat to think that we're probably the first live theatre a lot of these kids have ever been able to see.

Kelsey - I've wanted to do children's theatre since I was little and going to children's plays. I saw a children's touring show in elementary school and decided then and there that that was what I wanted to do. This is kind of a dream come true for me. I hope I can keep doing it forever!

Dane - No audience anywhere is more appreciative, or easier to please. That's the main reason. That it was a chance to do a show with my sisters didn't hurt either.

How do you manage the early mornings?

Carly - I worked at Starbucks for 4 years when I was an undergraduate. 7 and 8am calls are nothing once you've gotten used to being at work at 4am on a regular basis!

Kelsey - Actually, I used to work at Starbucks, and had to be up by 3am, so a 7am call isn't too bad.

Dane - I would tell you that, given some caffeine and a couple hours of sleep, I manage the early mornings just fine. My cast-mates who've had the misfortune of waking me up from a nap in the van might tell a vaguely different story.

Where did you attend High School?

All attended to Sierra High School in Tollhouse.

Are or were you a Theatre major? Do you have any other majors or minors?

Carly - I was! I double majored in Theatre and French at Fresno State and graduated in 2009. Now I'm back as a student in the credential program.

Kelsey - Yes Yeah, I'm also a Child Development major. Dane - Technically right now I'm a double major Theatre Arts and History, but having taken precisely zero history classes since enrolling here two years ago, that status is probably due for revision.

Why did you choose Fresno State to study theatre?

Carly - I actually hadn't decided what I was going to major in when I started at Fresno State, but being a theatre enthusiast/addict, I decided to take classes and do a minor, which then morphed into a major. I had no idea how fantastic the theatre program was when I started at the university. I just sort of stumbled into a really good thing. I had wonderful professors and learned so much in the program as an undergrad, and I'm having an equally fabulous time jumping back into it now! Kelsey - I wanted to stay in Fresno, and I got a scholarship here, which helped, but I also knew from coming to see Fresno State shows over the years that the theatre program here was a good one.

Dane - When I was in high school, and colleges kept sending me their theatre dept. brochures, I found myself constantly throwing them away after a glance at the publicity photos. Fresno state was the only brochure I read, because it was the only one with pictures of actors who didn't look like they were acting. After flipping through page after page of actors with their eyebrows soulfully knit together and their hands gracefully reaching out to the audience, the simple realism Fresno State's actors seemed to demonstrate was more than enough to draw me in. High School Days and my sisters' experiences just cemented the deal.

How many shows have you done together and what were they?

Carly - Kelsey and Dane and I haven't all three done a show together since 2003, when Kelsey and I were in high school and Dane was in 6th grade. It was Sierra High's production of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. The only other show all three of us did together was the summer before. We were all in A RUN OF THE MILL MELODRAMA with Tollberry Community Theatre. I was dressed in drag as the villain "Slick N. Oyley." Kelsey was playing the character of the assistant director. (It was a sort of show within a show.) And Dane was the tree who fell down on me and killed me. Kelsey and I were both in a production of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES that J. Daniel Herring directed for Fresno State's women's studies program, and then Kelsey and Dane have done a bunch of Fresno State shows together as well.

Kelsey - Dane and I have done a few shows together including last year's TYA show ACCORDING TO COYOTE, and EASTERN STANDARD before that. This fall we were both in T.I.C. TRENCHCOAT IN COMMON and THE TEMPEST. Carly and I did a production of THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES together several years ago, also directed by J. Daniel Herring. But we haven't all done a show together since IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE back in 2004 at Sierra High, and then Dane and I weren't really doing much. This is the first production we've all really done together.

Dane - Oh boy - Kelsey and I have now done a myriad of productions together, but the three of us have only done two shows together before this. One was a high school production of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, and one was a community theatre melodrama in which I played a tree to my sisters' Assistant Director (Kelsey - it was a rehearsal play of sorts), and Snidely Whiplash (Carly - a delightful cross-gender, serial-seducer, ever-so-dastardly villain).

What other productions have you done at Fresno State?

Carly - I was in URINETOWN, SHILOH RULES, LA CELESTINA, INTIMATE APPAREL, and ETC's MACBETH. I understudied LITTLE FOXES, helped design makeup for the main stage production of MACBETH, and have crewed PDT.

Kelsey - T.I.C. TRENCHCOAT IN COMMON (Kid), THE TEMPEST (Antonia), ACCORDING TO COYOTE (Ensemble), EASTERN STANDARD (Phoebe), TIME AGAIN IN OZ (Ensemble), WELCOME HOME, JENNY SUTTER (Jenny) MEASURE FOR MEASURE (Ensemble), and ETC's THE

ADVENTURES OF DASH RIPROCK (Saffron)

Dane - EASTERN STANDARD, THE GLASS MENAGERIE, ACCORDING TO COYOTE, T.I.C. TRENCHCOAT IN COMMON, THE TEMPEST, and I'm currently working on ASSASSINS, and OUR LADY OF 121ST STREET.

What are your continuing education or career plans?

Carly - When I grow up, I want to be a high school drama/French teacher. Whether or not I will actually ever "grow up" remains to be seen! I've also been having a lot of fun teaching English as a second language in France whenever I get the chance and plan on doing some more of that, starting this summer!

Kelsey - Right now, I'm hoping to get a spot in a children's theatre company. I have callbacks in April for one, and I'm crossing my fingers. From there I'm toying with the idea of going into play therapy, which means more school of course! But I think that's the ultimate goal.

Dane - Mmm - finish college ... finish college ... audition for someone to do something?

Are other family members (other than you three) active in theatre or other arts?

Carly - Our parents love theatre and have been taking us to see it since we were little, but they both prefer watching from the audience to being up on stage.

Kelsey - My mom used to do theatre in high school. She played Blanche in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE.

Dane - As far as I know, besides our mother’s high school theatre career (one which I only learned about because of this questionnaire), we three are the only ones in our family to pursue theatre.

Do you have any upcoming projects you’d like to tell everyone about?

Carly - No other theatre projects in the works for the moment, but I love it too much to stay away from it for long!

Kelsey - Does it have to be theatre related? The center where I work is hosting an Autism Awareness Carnival on campus March 31st, which is open to the public. We want to make it a really big event, because we're kicking off Autism Awareness month, (April) so y'all come, it's going to be tons of fun!

Dane - ASSASSINS will get enough publicity on its own. OUR LADY OF 121ST STREET could use a little more coverage though - April 20, 21, & 22 at Fresno State in the Lab School Theatre

What one thing should everyone know about you?

Carly - Here's a fun Carly, Kelsey, Dane story: When I was 9, Kelsey was 6, and Dane was 3, we put on our first theatrical production - written by, directed by, and starring the three of us, and performed in the living room for Christmas. It was entitled, THE CASE OF THE RAPPING GRANNY.

Kelsey - I was type cast. I'm actually a tap-dancing cow in real life.