12-year-old from Humble takes stage at Wortham Theater

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Humble resident, Cohle Smith, is like most 12-year-olds in many facets.

In his downtime, he relaxes while watching YouTube videos. In the summer months, he enjoys swimming and recently, he has been helping his mother get an early start on setting up Christmas decorations.

What sets this precocious pre-teen apart from many of his peers is the fact that Smith is already a paid professional in a field he intends to spend his life pursuing: theater.

Smith's fascination with musical theater bloomed from his life-long love of song.

"I would sing in my room a lot," Smith said. "Then, I got a CD case full of all these Broadway musicals. I listened to them and was like, 'Oh my god, can we go to New York to see some of these?' and my grandma was like, 'Yeah.' We've seen 'Phantom,' 'Wicked' and all the good ones."

Around the age of nine years old, Smith became involved in community theater, landing roles in shows like "Mulan," "Seussical" and "Beauty and the Beast." When he received a casting call announcement for the Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) production of "The Little Prince," he decided to audition for a spot in the Children's Chorus.

"I thought this would be fun so I auditioned for the Children's Chorus," Smith said. "They were also picking a few people out to audition for 'the prince,' and I was one of them. There were about seven of us, and the audition process was very long. But after the audition process, they emailed all of us, and I and Andy (Jones) both got the part."

As one of the actors chosen to portray the double-casted title role, Smith has rehearsed diligently since September to prepare for his December performances which will be Wednesday, Dec. 9; Thursday, Dec. 17 and Saturday, Dec. 19 at the Wortham Theater Center's Cullen Theater.

For the full story go to The Humble Observer, a Houston Community Newspaper.