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Hi, and welcome to Try AI for Growth, a baby podcast out of Make Space for Growth. Here, I share short and maybe surprising stories of how I’ve used technology to tackle everyday challenges—at home, at work, and in business. I’m your host, Sara Vicente Barreto, and today, I want to share a story that’s a little closer to home—how I used AI to help my daughter prepare for her role in Annie. You heard me well! After last week’s experiment with data analysis, I thought I would make it lighter this week. So I decided to use my quest to help my daughter interact with AI preparing her school play whilst earning some “cool parent” brownie points story to inspire me today.
Now, if you’re thinking, “How does AI help with a school play?”—you’re not alone. It might sound unconventional, but this story is about how technology can support creativity, collaboration, and even confidence-building in our kids.
The Backstory
Let me start by telling you about my daughter. Since nursery, she’s been on stage in multiple roles, and she’s always embraced the spotlight. In fact, she has an uncanny ability to memorize not just her lines but everyone else’s. She has my memory for rhymes and songs, and her enthusiasm for performing has grown over the years (she does not get that from me).
Since we moved to Lisbon, we have been going back to London every summer for both her and my son to participate in Stagecoach, where they dance, sing and do drama. She’s been part of Matilda, Pirates of the Caribbean, and We Will Rock You. While she’s always had solid parts in singing and dancing as part of the main crew, she’s never been the lead.
When it comes to school plays and particularly since the move, however, she’s often been hesitant. Maybe it was because, for a while, it felt “uncool” to join in. But at the same time she remained nostalgic about this London thing we did not have here. But this year, something changed. When her school announced they’d be performing Annie, she signed up enthusiastically. I did not love it, because it was really not going to be good for the schedule, but I decided to play along. So she studied Annie’s lines, hoping for the lead role. She also studied Molly’s, as a back-up plan!
When the roles were announced, she was cast as Molly—a significant part, but not what she had originally aimed for. As a parent, I wanted to support her in this new journey. But I’ll admit—I knew very little, or shall I say zero, about Molly’s role in the story. That’s when I turned to AI for help.
How AI Got Involved
We were in the car, so for this one we used the voice chat, and that way we could interact with it together. I shared the background with ChatGPT and started with a general question:
“Do you have any tips for her?”
It was interesting, as ChatGPT recommended character research, practicing lines, voice projection and, most importantly having fun. She then asked if there were areas she was particularly nervous about. We were onto a great start. Empathic and encouraging thought.
So then we did as we were told and we started with our research. After asking for a 10 point summary of the musical (short and concise prompt), I went to the pressing question:
“What is the role of Molly in the musical Annie?”
The AI described Molly as the youngest orphan in the group—spunky, outspoken, and often at the centre of comedic moments, spirited, sweet and sometimes a bit cheeky. And I quote “Molly might not be the lead, but she has her own quirks and charm that make her stand out. She is also pretty brave for her age, standing up to Miss Hannigan in her own little way”.
This information gave me a clearer picture of what the role required, and it helped me understand how important Molly is to the story. That was more than I had before.
Then, we wanted to know more about the story and her lines, so I went on to ask:
“What are Molly’s key moments or lines in Annie? Are there any quirks or traits that my daughter should focus on to bring the character to life?”
I received a breakdown of the key scenes where Molly shines, along with personality traits to highlight—her mischievous humour, her boldness in standing up to Miss Hannigan, and her tender moments with Annie and the other orphans. It even suggested ways to incorporate small gestures or tone shifts to make the character more memorable. To finalize, we chose to go deeper and drill into “The Hard Knock Life” song, where Molly has a part and my daughter’s favourite. Chat GPT gave me tips on Miss Hannigan’s mannerisms, voice imitation and facial expressions.
Feeling empowered
We had a lot of information to go with and, for fun, we still asked ChatGPT if it could interpret Miss Hannigan. Although ChatGPT attempted a few lines in Miss Hannigan’s voice, it did not quite perform them. Maybe I will revisit the experiment another time!
With these tools in hand, my daughter embarked on a months-long journey of preparing the role and embracing Molly. She became more excited about the role and explored her own spin to Molly’s lines, even before the first rehearsals begin. It has been great to see her work so hard on this musical, and remembering the first steps started with an unusual use of technology. It empowered her and made her feel more prepared.
The final play is not due for another 2 months, and now I am wondering if I could have her perform to ChatGPT and get feedback. Maybe another time!
What I Learned
As usual, I want to wrap up with a few lessons I took away from this experiment:
- The Prompt
When I use the written version, I tend to write longer prompts with lots of detail. But in this case, I was in the voice chat and driving. As such, I opted for short to the point prompts. That made it easier to get to the point answers but it also helped my daughter consume the information we were receiving.
2. AI as a Creative Partner
AI doesn’t just solve problems or automation—it sparks ideas. From understanding Molly’s character to brainstorming ways to make her stand out, AI turned what could’ve been a daunting task (at least for me) into an enjoyable conversation and collaboration.
3. Experiment and be surprised
I know drama performances are IRL things. But I was curious about how AI can read about a character and a play’s nuances like face expressions and mannerisms. I was surprised at the amount of detail that I received beyond the one that comes from written papers.
What You Can Do
It’s time to close and to think about how you can bring a little AI experiment into your life today. If you’re supporting a child in a creative project—whether it’s a school play, a science fair, or something else entirely—why not involve AI? You can do it in small steps
- Start with the Basics: Ask AI to explain a topic, describe a character, give you nuances of the facts that may go beyond the mainstream information
- Challenge: Ask more questions and, if you are doing it with your child, let them ask questions too. It is a win-win of teaching children about how not to take AI first answer for granted and how to prompt the AI further
- Have Fun With It: Use AI as a brainstorming partner to spark new ideas or refine existing ones.
Here is a bonus share related to having fun. When I finished this script, I asked AI to suggest a few title ideas. The first 5 were decent, but none got my full buy-in. I was close to picking “The secret weapon to stage success: How AI helped prepare for Annie” and “From Annie to AI”, but I decided to follow my own advice and ask for further refinement, highlighting the ones I liked and the message I was trying to convey about linking a live performance with AI. This is where we landed: “Lights, Camera, AI: Bringing the Role of Molly to Life”. I thought that was cool, do you agree?
Thanks for joining me for this episode of Try AI for Growth. If you’ve used AI in a fun or surprising way, I’d love to hear about it! Don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share your thoughts.
Until next time, keep experimenting and keep having fun.