Jane

PERFORMER	Kate Wetherhead
DEBUT	2008

Jane is a teenage girl featured in the 2008 musical Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas. She is one of a handful of characters created specifically for the stage production, having never previously appeared in the book or TV special of the same name.

As the story begins, Jane is writing a song on her laptop as her father Russ enters the room. He's carrying a box of affects which reminds him and his daughter of Christmases passed with Jane's recently departed mother. Russ happens upon one of their old favorite books, Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, and offers to read it to Jane. Dismissing the idea at first, in favor of meeting her friends, she ultimately decides to let her dad read just the first chapter.

As the story continues, Jane eventually finds herself within the story itself, able to interact with the characters of Frogtown Hollow. She meets Emmet Otter and his Ma, and learns of a talent contest coming up in Waterville. An aspiring composer herself, she's convinced by a group of squirrels, who sing "Trust" with her, to take a shot at the $50 prize.

Later, when Alice Otter is denied entry in the production despite all she's sacrified, Jane decides to give her spot in the competition so that Alice may perform a solo rendition of "Our World."

As she accompanies the defeated Otters on their way home down the frozen river, Jane uses her musical talent to hone in on what their individual acts were missing. Instructing the jug-band to join Alice, the group succesfully blend the two songs catching the attention of the Riverside Rest's patrons.

Waking up in her own bed, Jane's dad tells her she fell asleep as he was reading the book. She realizes that she's missed her meeting with her friends, but instead decides to spend Christmas Eve with her father.

For the 2009 production, the role of Jane was played by Meg Guzulescu, a much younger actress than Kate Wetherhead, bringing the character of Jane more into a pre-teen phase. Much of Jane's plot was reworked for this production: instead of entering the story, Jane remains a separate character for the most part relegated to her bedroom over the course of the musical.