Published 2004-04-07T00:00:00Z”/>

Allison Dugaw<br>Staff Writer

Allison Rich never would have guessed her horror movie-like scream would have landed her on her first on-screen movie role.

But it did — and she got the lead female part.

The movie, directed by Chico native Shane Will, is called “The Waning Solstice,” and it was filmed here in town. Production of the movie started in early January and wrapped up in late February.

Rich, a Chico State sophomore, heard about the audition through a friend and decided to take a chance. She had a little experience with stage acting, but had never performed in front of a camera.

“I didn’t have to go to the cattle call audition at the Chico Cabaret,” she said. “I had a private one with the director.”

Rich received the special treatment because Phil Ruttenburg, artistic director of the Chico Cabaret, recommended her for the role.

“I knew that Allison could do it,” Ruttenburg said. “When she takes on a project, she takes it on 100 percent.”

At the audition, Rich said, she was asked to give her best fighting stance and horror-movie scream. The 5-foot-10-inch blonde said she thinks the scream is what did her in.

“I’m the opposite of what they were looking for,” she said. “They wanted a shorter, brunette, almost Hispanic girl.”

Her character, Lisa, is in love with a jock, but her longtime friend Eddy is in love with her. The main storyline is about how Lisa, the mediator of the group of friends, discovers her whole family has been slaughtered by demons and how the friends retaliate.

Rich said she watched a lot of horror and zombie films, like the original “Dawn of the Dead,” to prepare for her role as the only surviving female in the horror flick.

But Rich was not always the blood-curdling screaming actress she is today. The music education major said she just started acting in August 2002 portraying Magenta in the Chico Cabaret’s “Rocky Horror Picture Show” and has been doing community theater ever since. Acting has helped her get over her shyness, fear of other people and self-consciousness she revealed through high school.

“I laugh at myself because three years ago I would have never thought I’d be doing what I do now — singing, acting, dancing,” she said. “I’m just dedicated with everything I do.”

And dedication to her first horror film sometimes called for doing things she didn’t want to do. Parts of the movie took place at a barn in Orland where it was dark, cold and muddy, and she hated every minute of it.

“Sometimes it was a little creepy,” she said. “You didn’t know who was lurking out there.”

Other locations for the film included churches downtown, Nash’s restaurant, Bidwell Park and local houses.

“Some shots were done at ungodly hours of the morning,” she said. “There were nights we were filming until six or six-thirty in the morning.”

The hardest part of filming for Rich, however, was adjusting from stage acting to film acting. She said sometimes she would forget that the camera was four feet away from her, and the crew would have to tell her to tone it down.

“The Waning Solstice” is still in the editing process, but until it is released — possibly in April, she said — Rich will be keeping busy.

Along with teaching piano lessons, she is currently starring in Chico Theater Company’s “Camelot” as Guinevere, and after that she will be playing piano for “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” at the Blue Room Theatre.

Rich said her calendar is booked from now until January, but it’s not too much for her to handle.

“I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love it so much,” she said.

Before she graduates, Rich said she’d like to transfer to a school back East. But after graduation, she hopes to continue music and acting and move to either Los Angeles or New York — where she was born.

Ruttenburg said losing Rich to the East Coast would be painful but is supportive of her desire to put her skills to use.

“She needs to pursue her dream,” Ruttenburg said. “I think whatever she sets her mind on, she’ll accomplish.”

<em>Allison Dugaw can be reached at <a href= ‘mailto:[email protected]’>[email protected]</a></em>