As soon as she could walk, Cassie Donegan started practicing. She began dance lessons at 2 years old and started in musical theater at age 5.
Now, at 15 years old, she’s already started two scholarships for the arts, played the roles of Peter Pan, Annie and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. It’s not hard to guess why she has been practicing.
Donegan wants to star on Broadway. She wants to head to New York University after graduating from Bethel Christian School and York County School of the Arts, study drama and hit the stage. There are plenty of girls who start out with the same dream and never make it that far, but Donegan has a philosophy that helps put that out of her mind.
“Somebody once told me that if you can think of anything else you could possibly do, then you don’t have the heart to be on Broadway,” she said.
Donegan has taken that to heart. She said it’s Broadway or bust and she has “absolutely no backup plan.”
Part of her journey to the stardom she desires has been participating in beauty and talent pageants. It paid off for her recently when she won the Miss Greater Springfield contest last September and went on to gain the Miss Virginia Outstanding Teen title in June. She then nabbed a spot in the Miss America Outstanding Teen competition, where she placed fourth.
The contest included contestants from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. She said it was the “most nerve-wracking thing” she’s ever done.
The reason it rattled her nerves was the way that the spots are picked. She had to sit in front of a computer screen and stare at a list, waiting for “Virginia” to pop up on the screen so she could call in and claim an open spot in five minutes. With the list of state names and available spots updating every 15 seconds, Donegan found herself clicking the “refresh” button every 15 seconds.
Despite her competitive background, Donegan was not looking to be at the top of the list. She wanted a chance to go on stage somewhere right in the middle of the lineup.
“I’ve never liked being very first or very last,” she said.
She got the spot she wanted: middle of the pack, white group, No. 7 – her favorite number. Soon, she, her mother, stepfather and sister were loaded in the van and bound for Florida.
Donegan said she slept for most of her 8-hour drive to the Orlando, Fla., contest. It turned out to be a good decision because she went to bed at 2 a.m. only to wake up in two hours. She then spent eight hours at rehearsal.
Her schedule went like that for most of the week. Even though she ended up placing fourth in the competition, Donegan said she would not trade her weeklong experience for anything.
“The week itself was crazy. It was a lot of fun,” she said. “I learned so much about myself.”
