Her show goes on

Something a little bit magical happened when Jenna Faeth took the stage. Was it the way the petite 18-year-old widened her big brown eyes? Was it her meticulous study of each line, or the compassion she extended to every character she played?

No one, not even her parents, can quite put a finger on how such a shy teenager could transform into an actress who consistently mesmerized audiences.

"She had this air about her," said her friend Johnny Sittisin. "You couldn't help but stop and look."

Faeth's loved ones do know one thing: She would have wanted her show to go on.

Early Sunday morning, the 1986 Toyota she was driving drifted off Highway 99 near Madera and then overturned several times, the Fresno Bee quoted officials as saying.

The single-car accident killed Faeth and injured three of her American River College classmates. Sittisin and Brittany Baskerville, both 19, were released from the Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno. As of Tuesday evening, 24-year-old Andy Hoover remained there in critical condition.

The four had spent the week together at a theater festival at California State University, Los Angeles; although they were tired, they agreed to trade off driving through the night to get back in plenty of time for the Sunday evening rehearsal of the play "Kimchee and Chitlins," said Sittisin, who suffered whiplash, abrasions and other injuries.

Faeth, a freshman, had the starring role in the satiric comedy – she played Suzie Seeto, a novice reporter trying to uncover the truth about a racial clash between Koreans and African Americans in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn.

When the play's director, theater professor Sam Williams, heard the news about the accident, his first instinct was to cancel the show.

"You really just want to crawl under a rock," he said.

Then he heard from the dean of fine and applied arts that Faeth's grandfather was planning to attend the opening night of the play Friday. He spoke to her parents – they said they would come, too.

Sunday afternoon, as students arrived at the school to light candles and cry, Williams gathered his cast and told them: We'll do the play. We'll do it for Jenna.

He enlisted Scarlette Bustos, a former American River student and the sister of one of Faeth's best friends, to play the role.

"Honestly, it's one of the most trying tasks that I've ever had to take on, like being in an emotional blender," she said Tuesday. "If anyone should do it, I know it probably should be me, whether I wanted to or not."

Faeth first started acting as a timid 5-year-old, after her parents sent her to a local playhouse as a way to meet new friends.

On stage, they saw a new side of their little girl, one unafraid to dance and sing.

Although she tried stints as a soccer fullback and a pianist, drama remained her true love.

During her sophomore year at El Camino High School, she landed her first role – a small part as the Grand Duchess in "You Can't Take It With You."

"Her eyes lit up," remembers her mother, Cathy. "Man, it was like a bug that bit her."

For a girl who always doubted her own abilities – and who could never recognize how much other people liked her – acting became a safe haven.

She picked up more and more key roles. By the end of senior year, her peers awarded her three acting trophies. Cathy Faeth remembers her daughter's disbelief.

Familiar with the pain of shyness, young Jenna had innate compassion for others. In fourth grade, she cried when she saw a homeless person. Her natural empathy allowed her to get deep inside her characters' hearts and minds, said her father, George.

During her first year in college, her nascent career continued to blossom. She landed two leading roles as a freshman and then received a coveted special invitation to perform in a competition at last week's theater festival.

"She was glowing all week," remembers her friend Victoria Alvarez-Chacon, 22.

On Tuesday, Faeth's friends tied yellow ribbons around their wrists for her, as well as black ropes around their heads in honor of Hoover, who they say wears that as a fashion statement. Some created a memorial in front of the recently remodeled theater, chalking messages of love and remembrance in pastels on the sidewalk.

Not far away – in the Carmichael home where the Faeth family lives – a different type of memorial emerged. On the big TV, family and friends watched videos of Faeth's performances.

Faeth's 13-year-old sister, Kelly, helped her dad work the remote. She was silent in her devastation. How does a 13-year-old explain how it feels to lose the big sister who always let her crawl into bed after she'd had a bad dream?

George Faeth choked on tears only when he described the goodness he sees in the world, evidenced by the kindness shown his family as they struggle with an unanswerable question:

Why does a life so full of beauty and promise become – in its final act – a tragedy?

Faeth's family and friends, her teachers and fellow cast members can't answer that any more than they can explain what made her so magical.

All they know is that, when her show goes on this Friday night, they will be there – just as she would have wanted them to be.

About the writer:

• Call The Bee's Jocelyn Wiener, (916) 321-1967.