World traveler: Her father is a colonel in the Air Force, so she’s moved all over — Orlando, Germany, Ohio, Virginia, Washington State, then to MacDill AFB in Tampa in 2011.
Her first big (bug?) role: In kindergarten in Orlando, she played a butterfly who told the other insects to stop being mean to stinkbugs. “I was cast because I was the tallest.” (She’s now 5 foot 10.)
Seeing a future: “Everywhere I went I was active in the theater community. It was like a constant home for me when my regular home wasn’t as constant.” The touring programs brought to military bases by Montana’s Missoula Children’s Theatre were a boon, giving her a chance to do shows in Washington and Tampa. But it wasn’t until she started studying and performing at the Patel Conservatory that she got to see musical theater as a possible career path.
Poster girl: Gabie performed in senior choir, sang a solo in Patel’s Showstoppers musical revue, played multiple roles in The Good Doctor, and helped write a musical inspired by Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors. Her expressive features and stage presence shine through in production photos in the conservatory’s brochure and on an even bigger platform: “I’m apparently on two billboards.”
Back to school: As a freshman in the University of Tampa Honors Program, she’ll audition for shows but she’s also interested in working backstage. “I’m never happy doing just one thing.”
This article appears in Aug 29 – Sep 4, 2013.