Former ‘Star of Tomorrow’ continues to shine
North Fort Myers High School students certainly remember Lisa Hamman and her show-stopping performances onstage.
But just because she graduated doesn’t mean she left her performing or the community behind. She is now an acting major at Florida State University.
She still comes home in the summer to perform, and on May 19 she took to the stage for the Cape Coral Council for the Arts and Humanities at the Cultural Park Theatre on Monday to raise funds for the council’s annual Stars of Tomorrow program.
Hamman performed three solo selections and a fourth in a duet with former city manager Terry Stewart at the event, a natural since she is best friends with his daughter, Veronica.
Performing at the event was the least she could do, since it was where she took flight as a child performer.
“I received some aid from them and some stage experience, so it was a great performance building tool,” Hamman said. “I did the competition for two or three years.”
She started singing in third grade at Gulf Elementary. She had been singing in church and around the house when her mother asked if she wanted to audition for the school’s choir.
Within the next two years, she was a soloist with the choir and her singing career began to blossom.
With all the work she did in other productions and in competition, it made the transition to high school much easier.
At North Fort Myers, she was the lead in “Crazy for You” as a junior, which won her the Lee School District 2012 Best Actress Tony Award, and was one of two female leads in “Miss Saigon” as a senior. She also had a minor role in “Hairspray” as a sophomore.
“North was such a great experience. Miss Whitener, Miss Gregg and Robin Dawn Ryan were wonderful women who helped shape me and get ready for the performing world,” Hamman said.
After graduating with honors last year from North, Hamman went to Tallahassee and took up acting at Florida State, which she has found more competitive, but supportive, especially when performing in front of other actors.
“They are the top school for theater and music in the state and they have such unbelievable spirit,” Hamman said. “We are all comrades up there and we boost each other up and they tell us what we need to work on. It’s a positive environment.”
She said she would love to audition for Disney or any other musical production upon graduation.