At age 9, Lisa Jackman was the youngest member of the Assassins cast. Now a gifted artist in her own right, Lisa was interviewed by telephone this summer by the show's producer, Adam Jackman. Lisa created two commemorative pieces for the show and presented them to Jackman opening night. We present her work here for the first time, along with Lisa's reaction to seeing them, 11 years later.

You should be getting the first photo now. Can you see it?
I’m getting a picture now... it’s... a poorly drawn flower... and a gun. Did I draw that?

You did.
Isn’t it funny that I put a red safety tip on the end?

And there's one more.
Oh, it’s a poster with an american flag. What freakin’ crap!  That’s cute.

You would have been almost 10 at the time. There’s something interesting about this show prompting a 9-year-old to draw guns. What’s your reaction to this work now?
I think it’s interesting that I put the safety on it.  The red tip.  Shows that I didn’t know a real gun, which is good.  I also recognize that that’s exactly what that show was about.  People getting killed.

What do you remember about it?
"Mom, I want an ice cream!  I want the one with gumball eyes and meh meh meh for his nose!" [laughing] I don’t remember. I remember that I had to keep running away.  And I remember you pulling me aside and teaching me how to be bratty, and freak out.

I taught you to be bratty? So you were a perfect angel until then?
Exactly.

How did I teach you to be bratty?
We were stage right along the side aisles of that theatre.  It had big archways, and a hallway that went along the theatre, separate.  You pulled me aside and said, "I want you to just scream."  And I couldn’t do it.  You said to just throw a fit and say “But mom, I wanna!”  And I did, but I remember I always had to be louder, because I wasn’t loud enough.

And I remember that my mom [Melinda Nielsen as Sara Jane Moore] kept trying to hold me, and I had to keep breaking away and running out into the crowd.

You were the youngest cast member.
Was I?

How did you get along with the rest of the cast?
I remember it was overwhelming.  Going out and saying my line was about the scariest thing I’ve done in my whole life.  I don't remember the cast, just that you were on crutches, and I remember watching the whole show.  I remember you guys just belting out your music and people getting shot.

You watched from the wings, or did you ever see the show from the audience? I found out later that almost everyone in the cast found a chunk where they weren't onstage and snuck out to watch the show.
I was wandering all over the place during that show.  I felt cool coming up, backstage, then I’d go back and forth like I was somebody important.  So people could see me, I’d stand with my hands on my hips, then go backstage.

Back to the art. Do you remember the flag?  Any critical appraisal?
Critical appraisal?  I think the lines and the curvature showed much potential for my future artistic abilities. No, don't write that.

You said it. It's going in.
I was nine. I think that the relation between the angle of the flag and the angle of the letters and the use of bold red were signs of passion, of this being a serious subject, a powerful symbol of this play.  Trying to be adult.  Perhaps I was even thinking of the letters in blood. [laughing] I'm getting a friggin’ kick out of this.

I'm glad. Speaking of letters in blood, do you think that nepotism had anything to do with your being cast in Assassins?
I had little or no acting experience, and my brother was running the show.  Are you kidding me?

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