Leading lady

By Nancy Pleich

Imagine having a lifelong dream of being an actor, deciding on a more practical career, then landing a job at a company that offers acting courses at lunch. That’s what happened to CA Mary Marguglio.

In just two years, Marguglio made her acting debut and began a job as senior accountant at Cirque du Soleil, the inter-nationally acclaimed entertain-ment empire founded in 1984in Montreal.

“I always loved the arts,” says Marguglio, who speaks Italian, French and English. Two years ago, while working in Montreal for Teleglobe, her sister-in-law encouraged her to audition for a play produced by L’Associazione Prinacria, a Sicilian theatre group that raises money for the community. Marguglio got the part of a pregnant mother of five children and persuaded her husband to take a role too. “We rehearsed once a week, then twice a week, then every weekend. It was entirely in Sicilian. On opening night, it was such a high — almost like getting my degree or getting married.” Then came Cirque du Soleil. “I really enjoyed working for Teleglobe,” says Marguglio, “but when this opportunity came up, I just had to take it. Working for Cirque du Soleil is unlike anything you could imagine; with troupes all over the world, we work with many governments and it’s quite complex.” It takes good care of its staff, she says, with extracurricular activities such as barbeques, musical entertainment — and the acting lessons. “I couldn’t believe it; working and acting coming together in the same place,” she says of the lunchtime opportunity. She even gets to visit the factory where the costumes are made. “They make a mould of the artists’ heads so they will always get the size right,” she says.

The success of the first play led to the next in which she and her husband costarred as an engaged couple, complete with a balcony scene and serenade. “It was like Romeo and Juliet,” she says. “We had so much fun and I got to sing, so that was even better.”

Marguglio’s enthusiasm for her job, acting and life is infectious. Asked if she might someday become a guest performer at Cirque du Soleil, she laughs, but the past two years indicate she is likely just at the beginning of Act I.