In reality, I'm the youngest child in my family. I was not at all prepared to be the oldest in this pretend family. The music the 7 children sing together is a bit complicated at times and we had many rehearsals in a small room just to try and work out the harmonies. The four youngest Von Trapps were all actually about the same age. Three of them were in the same school district, but Dana, the second youngest child, was from farther away. She was a very talented singer, but she had ADD and her mother gave her a break from her meds during the summers. Lucky us. So, being stuck in a tiny room with 6 younger children, one with the attention span of a goldfish, trying to learn harmonies, and keep the kids from killing each other was exhausting. Myself and Sean (the older boy Von Trapp), would get out of rehearsal and just lay down on the floor with out eyes closed, taking deep breaths. Caitlyn (Sean's sister in real life and the youngest Von Trapp) in particular had a rough time with Dana. Caitlyn, even then, had a very "git er done" attitude when it came to theatre. She is still one of my favorite people to work on a show with. She had no patience at all with Dana's constant joking around, losing her place in the music, complaining, etc. Then Sean would get annoyed with Caitlyn getting annoyed. I basically had to separate them all.
The other other three children were pretty mellow. They knew what they had to do and did it without problem. They were also annoyed with Dana but never really made a big deal about it, thankfully. The only issue we had with another child was dressing Robert, the younger boy. He was a fantastic singer and played his part really well. But Robert looked like a disheveled mess, all the damn time. We only found this out when we got into dress rehearsals. The Von Trapp kids had 5 different costumes throughout the show and almost all of them were quick changes. You would think the 5 girls would take the longest to change. Nope. It was Robert. I told Sean he was responsible for getting Robert changed and I believe he really did try. But every night the 6 of us tore through the dressing rooms, ran backstage and out mosies Robert, pants open, shirt untucked, shoes in hand. Sometimes even his pockets were pulled out and his knee socks were drooping. We all had to pounce on him at once, each taking a piece of clothing and fixing him. As you can see from the picture, we didn't always have time to de-sloppify him completely.
When we started doing dress rehearsals and performances, everyone mostly got along. We didn't have time to fight. However, I'm guessing Caitlyn still had some pent up rage towards Dana. At intermission, the kitchen staff brought a cart of drinks and snacks backstage for the cast and crew to have for free. I was collecting some costumes from backstage when someone told me Dana and Caitlyn got in a fist fight. WHAT? Apparently Dana accused Caitlyn of cutting her in line for snacks and Caitlyn clocked her in the face. I went backstage and saw Dana standing at the front of the line with her arms crossed and a defiant look on her face. I asked if she was ok and she said yes. I asked where Caitlyn was and Dana shrugged. I went to the dressing room and there was poor little Caitlyn, hysterically crying. "Why are you crying?? You didn't get hit!" I think it all just overwhelmed her. The other 2 girls came in to check on her. Robert knocked on the door and came in with soda and candy for her. Our choreographer, Toni, came in and made Caitlyn laugh by taking ridiculous glamour shots with her. Eventually, Caitlyn was calmed down and Dana never said anything about it. After all, she did end up at the front of the line.
I don't remember if they ever made up, but I know they didn't have any other confrontations. Ten years later, if I bring this incident up to Caitlyn, her face still fills with rage and she says, "That girl was so annoying!!!". I always felt this was proof that women really are crazy from birth. We can't be held responsible for what we do when provoked. Needless to say, Dana never performed in one of our shows again.