CASCO — Kaytrien Hall, a freshman at Lake Region High School, has been chosen from applicants across the country to participate in a Broadway-style production of “Hemophilia: The Musical” in New York City.

Hall has Von Willebrand disease — a bleeding disorder caused by low levels of clotting protein in the blood — as well as a platelet impairment. She was selected along with 24 other students nationally, all of whom have either hemophilia or another bleeding disorder, are genetic carriers of a bleeding disorder or are a sibling or child of someone with a bleeding disorder.

The musical at the New World Stages art complex Nov. 12 will focus on “the psychosocial and physical struggles associated with bleeding disorders,” according to its Facebook page.

Hall, 15, has been involved with theater for four years and has participated in three musicals. She sings and plays ukulele, saxophone and guitar.

She said that when she heard about “Hemophilia: The Musical,” she “immediately was so excited. I hadn’t even done anything yet, and I couldn’t wait to audition.”

She submitted headshots and two short essays, as well as a video of her singing music from “Carrie.”

Hall’s mother Bonnie said that she “just kind of ran with it. She really just did the whole process on her own.”

Hall said that when she found out she had won a part, “I freaked out. I ran to my sister’s room, I ran to my brother’s room. I was ecstatic, I was so excited, I was a mess. I don’t think I could explain in words how excited I am.”

She attends New England Hemophilia Association Camp in Moultonborough, New Hampshire, as well as various conferences and conventions related to bleeding disorders, and said the opportunity to participate in the musical feels “very empowering.”

“It just feels good to be an advocate for people that struggle because I’ve had my struggles, and I’ve met so many people going to conventions and conferences that it makes me happy to know that I’m helping the people out that I’ve met before,” she said.

Her mother added, “It’s so exciting because it’s so rare that these opportunities present themselves. It means a lot that she has the opportunity because it gives her a voice, and she’s able to speak up about something that sometimes has a lot of shame around it.”

Hall said she has had to deal with “people who are more aggresive than they should be on purpose.”

“They’re like, ‘Let me punch you and see if you get a bruise,'” she said.

She has learned to speak up when people are being too physical and has become more vocal about her disease. “Sometimes they forget and you have to remind them a little bit,” she said.

Then there are those who take her condition “way too serious.” “I had someone ask me, ‘Can you die from a paper cut?’ ” she said.

Hall had never played a sport before this fall, when she tried volleyball and “loved it” but had to quit after three days due to “awful damage in my arms from the volleyball constantly hitting my arms.”

Hall and her mother are flying to New York on Nov. 9, where she will participate in a three-day musical theater intensive that will include sessions on pain management, breathing techniques and the therapeutic value of self-expression in the arts. “Hemophilia: The Musical” is being produced by Believe Limited and sponsored by BioMarin.

She has never been to New York before and is looking forward to walking the same streets as the celebrities she admires. “I’m counting down the days on my white board. I’m going to pinch myself so many times when I’m there,” she said.

Hall does not know yet what her role will be in the musical since she has not received a script or an assigned part. She knows that there are six songs in the musical.

She could not join the high school musical this year because it opens two days after her visit to New York, but she plans to participate in high school musicals and community theater productions in the future —”as many as I can find in Maine,” she said. She is currently volunteering with the middle school musical.

Hall also plans to pursue her love of theater after high school. “I definitely want to do something with theater when I get older because I love it so much. I don’t think I could ever drop it after high school,” she said.

Jane Vaughan can be reached at 780-9103 or jvaughan@keepmecurrent.com.

Kaytrien Hall of Casco has been selected to perform in “Hemophilia: The Musical” in New York City Nov. 12.

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