Shelly Chawla

Hi, my name is Shelly Chawla and I am an eighteen year old student attending my final year here at Gloucester High School. I transferred to Gloucester High in January 1999 from St. Peter's Catholic High School. I attended St. Peter's for five and a half years and I thought that it was time for a change. I have always been an active participant in the arts. I danced ballet, jazz and tap for eleven years. I have taken two drama courses throughout high school and I played the clarinet in junior band for three years. Only recently have I discovered my love for singing. I only began performing on stage as a singer two and a half years ago. Before I began singing in front of an audience I was of course a shower singer! Man of La Mancha is my first big production. I play the part of the Housekeeper. Being a part of the cast has been a wonderful experience. I have not only met wonderful and talented people but it has also opened up the creative side of my mind. I love working with the cast and crew and I love the fact that I actually got the opportunity to improve my acting and singing skills! Character bio: The housekeeper (Eugenia Vaughn Shneider) was born on July 6, 1901. Her father Oscar was born in Germany. He later moved to London, England where he became a boilermaker. He married Eugenia's mother, Elizabeth Vaughn, in July of 1899. Together they had four children, three of whom were girls and the youngest was a boy. Elizabeth was a homemaker who stayed home and raised her children while her husband worked long hours at the factory. On August 12, 1921, tragedy struck the Shneider household. There was a fire that began and stole the lives of Oscar, Elizabeth and three of the children. Eugenia was left alone to conquer the world. That is when she moved to a little town and decided that she needed to find work and to start her life over again. While looking for work as a servant, she met Alonso Quijana, who offered her a job as a housekeeper. Instead of paying her in money, he offered her a room, clothes and food. Eugenia took the offer right away. She has been worki ng for Alonso for many years now. She is in love with him, as she has been for many years. The only thing that stands between the two is the fact that she is his servant and no man must have a love affair with his servant because his reputation can be ruined.