PRAIRIE DU SAC, Wis. (WMTV) – Friends and family of Marissa Bode, an actress from Mazomanie, gathered at a watch party in Prairie du Sac on Saturday to celebrate her historic role in Wicked.
People packed into Bonham Theatre to watch Bode, who is playing Nessarose, the Wicked Witch of the West’s, or Elphaba’s sister in the Wicked film adaptation. She is the first actress living with a disability to portray the character in the musical.
A car crash paralyzed Bode from the waist down when she was 11 years old, but it didn’t stop her from pursuing her dream of acting.
Her former music teacher at Wisconsin Heights, Aniela Haas, has been supporting her on her acting journey since she was in 6th grade. Saturday’s showing at Bonham Theatre was her second time seeing Wicked.
“I was just holding back tears the entire time,” she said. “And even when she first showed up, I was doing good. And then as soon as she started singing, they just overflowed. And it was pretty much just like that for the rest of the movie. It’s just beautiful.”
Bode has been traveling the world meeting with fans and promoting the musical.
“Having the privilege of having a platform, and a growing platform, to talk about accessibility as a whole and how everybody, non-disabled or not, can work to create their spaces more accessible,” she said.
Meanwhile, her family and friends back home are cheering her on. Her parents say Saturday’s viewing is one of many that have been held in Marissa’s honor.
“It’s not just that, dare I say, because Marissa’s in it, but also because it is a really good movie,” Bode’s father Sean Bode said. ” Seeing something like this that’s been advertised for years, and especially one that’s been anticipated for over 20 years, I think it’s worth seeing over and over again.”
The tightknit Mazomanie and Black Earth communities will continue to celebrate Marissa’s historic role.
“I mean, they’ve been Following Marissa since 2011, shortly after the accident which caused the paralysis,” Sean said. “But they’ve always been behind us. And we’re just grateful for being in such a great community of two small towns that get together for this.”
Bode’s parents say she has been everywhere from London, to L.A., to Australia promoting the film. She will be taking a well-deserved break before coming home to Wisconsin for Christmas.
“Seeing me on screen, but we had filmed everything basically a year prior,” Marissa said. “And obviously I knew that I did it, I know that I was there, but to see it actually on the screen was just very, very surreal.”
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