"Right now, my biggest thing is experience, experience, experience. I want to become a professor of theater eventually," she said. "The biggest gift that my professors have given me is what they've learned from their personal experience."

Working on a musical, something she hadn't yet done, is providing lots of firsthand experience and knowledge for her.

"Seeing what it's like to be a performer, the dynamics in the rehearsal room, the different roles people have and how that changes from a play, has been the biggest opportunity to learn," she said. "I've had to learn so much, but I feel like I've been taught how to learn more during my time here at UNG."

Parodia Penha plays the mother of Jack from "Jack and the Beanstalk" and said she didn't consider herself a musical theater performer at all.

"One of my goals in my time here was to take voice lessons and become more comfortable singing," she said. "I auditioned for the show, just for the audition experience and to see where the chips would land."

Getting the role was a big surprise.