For Luisa, Jerz’s character, “the world is still a magical place, full of epic characters and situations and — above all — romance.” She says the audience should like Luisa and care about her, not wanting the world to hurt or change her.

A fun show to perform

“‘The Fantasticks’ music is uniquely beautiful, and the script very clever. We have a lot of fun performing it,” she says.

Jerz is making her debut at The Theatre Factory. She has performed with Prime Stage and PICT Classic Theatre, among others. She won Pittsburgh Public Theater’s Shakespeare monologue contest three times and has acted at Geyer PAC in “West Side Story,” “A Chorus Line” and “The Crucible.”

She also has done more than 40 musicals with Stage Right and participated in its Guinness World Record “Children of Eden” show. –Candy Williams, Tribune Review