Jennifer Hope Wills in Broadway show with Brooke Shields

Ocean City Today - Ocean City MD

Nancy Powell, Associate Editor

Originally printed on October 22, 2004

A young woman who spent her childhood performing on stage in Ocean City is now starring as Eileen Sherwood opposite Brooke Shields in the play, Wonderful Town on Broadway.

Jennifer Hope Wills first appeared on stage before her first birthday when her parents, Bill and Sue Wills, were appearing in a play in Baltimore. Her parents soon left the city and moved to Ocean City where they opened Parker Playhouse downtown. It was less than a success, so they moved their productions to other sites in the resort.

In each location, Jennifer, brother Dan and sister Rebecca appeared alongside their parents in productions. Jennifer did that for 17 of the 20 years that Parker Productions was in business.

After graduating from Salisbury University with a BA in music education, she attended graduate school at Indiana University, obtaining degrees in vocal performance and pedagogy. Then she went to New York City, where after her first two auditions, she was cast in productions.She made her Broadway debut in Disney's Beauty and the Beast earlier this year.

Wills joined Shields in Wonderful Town at the end of September. She plays Shields' sister. Theater critic Matthew Murray wrote that the play won raves when it premiered on Broadway in 1953 "for its story of two women who come to New York with the intent of winning it over, only to be won over themselves, and its now-classic score, which includes songs like 'Ohio',''One Hundred Easy Ways', and 'The Wrong Note Rag.'"

Wills' father wrote that Jennifer had "started out in an old renovated movie theater on Worcester Street in Ocean City where her first stage role was going on with one day's notice, filling in for Heather Sislen in Red Riding Hood. It's been a road filled in with several detours, cleaning motel rooms, playing Peter Cottontail, rejections, many 'almosts' and finally the chance to shine alongside a very wonderful, warm person, Brooke Shields."

Jennifer Wills is contracted to perform in Wonderful Town through the Christmas holidays. Her brother Dan is serving with the U.S. Army in Germany. Earlier this month, he tied for third place in the 2004 Army Europe Festive of One-Act Plays in Heidelberg. Her sister Rebecca is married to reggae singer Eek-A-Mouse. Their children have appeared on television. Parents Bill and Sue wills are historical dramatists who continue to travel the country performing their shows in the series, "Presidents and Their First Ladies, dramatically speaking." They recently performed at a retirement community in Lubbock, Texas.