Profile

Autumn Joy MacDonald (or Autumn Mack, as she's known onstage), is the youngest child and only daughter in the MacDonald family, born in Cohasset, Massachusetts just over a year later than her twin big brothers, Casey and Callum, when her mom believed the old wives' tale about not being able to get pregnant with breastfeeding. As the youngest and the only girl, Autumn was definitely spoiled as a child. Spoiled by her parents, and also by her teachers, when she proved to be a very talented dancer and singer. Her dad, Dan, was an architect who made a very decent living, and her mother, Lucy, was a music teacher, who moved her job to home so she could raise her kids when they all came in such short order. It meant that Autumn and her brothers grew up surrounded by music, and Autumn fell in love with singing, dancing, and all the other things that came with it. She was a born performer, and grew up putting on shows for her parents, with the help of her big brothers, who grudgingly joined in.

Growing up, she poured her heart and soul into music and drama, believing she truly had what it took to be a Broadway star. She starred in every school production, and was absolutely certain that the lights of Broadway were calling her name... Until she didn't get into Juilliard. She'd poured her heart and soul into finishing school early so that she could go forward and pursue her career. But after her failure to get into the school of her dreams, it first hit her that, maybe, she wasn't as amazing as she'd always been told, and maybe? It wasn't all about her. Instead of going Juilliard, she ended up moving to New York to live and try her hand at Broadway auditions.

She auditioned for leading roles for a while, convinced that the Juilliard thing was just a fluke, and she'd land a great role right off the bat. But instead, it was nearly six months before she finally got into the chorus in Caden Drake's production of Cinderella. A few months later, when one of the understudies quit, Autumn was able to move into an understudy spot. Much changed after her months of hard work, and painful realization that things weren't just going to go her way, Autumn was thrilled and humbled to be able to take on the understudy spot in the production, serving as understudy to her friend, Maggie Gresham, who'd claimed her as an honorary little sister, as the entire Gresham family were gingers, just like Autumn.

It was only a short while into her gig as understudy that Autumn heard that Caden was taking auditions for Footloose. Autumn auditioned for Ariel, and honestly, with the humility that tons of failures had afforded her, she wasn't even close to thinking she'd land the role. But when the call came from Caden offering it to her, she was overjoyed.

While practicing for her role, Autumn developed a great friendship with her co-star, Justin Campbell. He was a great kid, and as they went through the rehearsals, she got to know him very well. She was the only person he confided in when he was harassed by a costar. And while she tried to help, the situation was getting out of control.

Before that, Autumn herself had lost her father in an accident when he had a sudden heart attack while driving her brother Casey to an interview, and was killed on impact. Casey survived, but has struggled to deal with the loss of their dad, and the trauma from being there for the accident. Autumn has really had a hard time with the loss, as well, which is what led to her being there the night that Justin got hurt, and being trashed out of her mind herself. It was only after Justin was hurt that Autumn was able to shake herself clear of the fog she was living in after losing her dad in order to try to help her friend.

Caden made the choice to fire the entire cast and crew in the wake of Justin's being hurt, and most of the cast and crew despise Justin for it. But Autumn wants one last meeting with Caden... so she can tell him the truth about what really happened to her dear friend, who's become more like a little brother.