From the Audience to the Stage, Michigan Native Makes National Tour Debut in Mean Girls
Nadina Hassan attending a production at Wharton Center for Performing Arts as a child with her Grandparents Ginette and Jorge Gomez.
Imagine growing up and attending professional theatrical performances from an early age, then returning years later to make your national tour debut on that same stage that held many memories and cherished experiences. That is Nadina Hassan’s dream coming to life this week as she makes her national tour debut as Regina George in the musical Mean Girls at Wharton Center for Performing Arts in East Lansing.
“I grew up in Ann Arbor, born and raised, and I did theatre all my life there starting at the age of 10,” recalled Nadina. “But before then, I actually went to see shows at Wharton Center with my grandparents, Ginette and Jorge Gomez, who were season ticket holders. That was my introduction to theatre.”
Nadina’s professional journey is one that many aspiring actors hope to achieve, but her career is just beginning. “Growing up I did about three to four shows every year at school and with community theater’s,” remarked Nadina. She was in the graduating class at Baldwin Wallace University when the pandemic first began – which for anyone that can remember, knows that it was a devastating time to begin to enter the audition process as theater’s around the globe shuttered their doors. “We were planning to visit New York City for our senior showcase, then move to the city, and then it was a full 180, flip the script on us, and we each had to navigate the world from home.”
But in the face of adversity, it was an eye-opening experience for her, and Nadina embraced the phrase she learned in school “As actors, we are the CEO of our own Business.” So, she moved home to live with her parents, signed with an agent, did auditions from Michigan for about a year and a half, and then landed the role in Mean Girls.
For those that didn’t see the mega-hit 2004 movie of the same name starring actresses like Lindsay Lohan, Tina Fey and Rachel McAdams as Regina George, Mean Girls the Musical is based on the film as Cady Heron who may have grown up on an African savanna, finds her family moving to a strange new home: suburban Illinois. How will the naïve newbie rise to the top of the popularity pecking order? By taking on The Plastics, a trio of lionized frenemies led by the charming but ruthless Regina George. But when Cady devises a plan to end Regina’s reign, she learns the hard way that you can’t cross a Queen Bee without getting stung.
And in the national tour, who is the ruthless Regina George? You guessed it – Michigan native Nadina Hassan.
“It’s so cool and I am so grateful my career has begun so quickly for me,” described Nadina. “Touring has been such a blast, I’ve been to so many places that I’ve never been before.”
But as young woman, she can even remember her first experience with Mean Girls, “this was the first movie I asked my mom if we could order on Netflix when they used to mail DVD’s to your house. I’ve always been a huge fan of Tina Fey, so it’s amazing to be saying her words every night.” The musical features a book written by Tina Fey, the nine-time Emmy Award® winner that also wrote the screenplay for the film.
And what is that little girl that used to attend performances with her grandparents feeling in advance of this homecoming performance? “It’s going to be so overwhelming. I’m so excited to come back at 23 years old and be on that stage starring in this role, it’s going to be surreal.”
Nadina’s grandparents unfortunately did not live to see her take on this role, or star on the stage that they so frequently supported, but she made sure to mention that she will be dedicating these performances at Wharton Center to them.
You can see Nadina and the entire company of Mean Girls at Wharton Center for Performing Arts for one of their eight performances March 1 – 6. Tickets are on sale at whartoncenter.com or by calling the Ticket Office at 1-800-WHARTON.
