Midmorning With Aundrea - August 20, 2020 (Part 2)

(Part 2 of 2) One high school taught a summer class on theater and performed a virtual production by the end of the semester.

And meet Nikki from "The Young and the Restless"!

Actress Melody Thomas Scott describes working on the legendary soap for four decades in her newly-published autobiography.

Theater is best done face to face, on a stage with an audience.

But that's just not possible right now.

So one group of creative artists came up with a different idea.

Noah manderfeld/noah manderfeld wsaw "performing art can be one of the most difficult to perform virtually, but here at dc everest with the technology of video chatting, not only did they pull off virtual lessons in the 3- week course.

They put on a full show."

Dc everest performing arts theatre director scott atkinson had a lot of uncertainty at the beginning of their summer program.

Scott atkinson/dc everest performing arts theatre co- director "we had about week to say 'yeah, we're interested' and then we had about another week to come up with some sort of course proposal" and that proposal was unknown.

Scott atkinson/dc everest performing arts theatre director "it was kind of u to us to create the course and kind of propose what we wanted it to look like and i'll be honest, at the beginning, we really didn't know" they eventually decided on a show that featured more individual performances and small group numbers, like this.

"nat song malea lopes/5th grader at mountain bay elementary "at first i wa really confused and i was like i need to do this, but after a while i was like 'this is going to be so fun and i'm excited" max koepke/senior at dc everest "there were som challenges definitely.

Figuring out lighting, figuring out little stuff.

Camera angle that sort of thing.p the kids has to each become one- person bands, becoming their own production crew along with the talent.

Wendy vesper/ dc everest performing arts theatre co- director "they were kind o thrown into this summer school experience and it was like 'kapow, here you go'" at the end of the last school year, they say online school was more relaxed.

This was different.

Mansi peters/sophomore at dc everest "iighting an camera angles, i didn't have to do that for any of my classes because this was a more extensive version of a musical opportunity."

This 3-week course also acted as a primer for the fall school year.

Wendy vesper/ dc everest performing arts theatre co- director "they're step ahead of the rest right now" max koepke/senior at dc everest "the musical itself we had to problem solve a lot.

And i think that's really really important for school coming up this fall.

Malea lopes/5th grader at mountain bay elementary "it's going to be strange thing that we're going to have to get through."

Noah manderfeld/noah manderfeld wsaw "all of them sa that the lessons they learned this summer is going to help this fall when there is virtual learning in some capacity.

You can find the full production on our website at w-s-a-w- dot-com.

In weston, nm nc7" she's gone from rags to riches.

Now the woman that brough nikky to life talks behind the scenes plus real life next on one of daytime tv's biggest stars is opening up about her life in a new memoir.

Melody thomas scott has been a fan favorite on cbs's the young and the restless for decades - but as chris martinez tells us, her rise to stardom was anything but easy.

Melody thomas scott has been a mainstay on daytime television for more than 40 years - as genoa city's glamorous 'nikki newman' on the young and the restless.

But offscreen - the iconic soap actress carried a secret pain - a part of her life she's now revealing in her new memoir 'always young and restless'.

"you've gott share, you've gotta share the bad stuff along with the good."

In the book, the 64- year-old recounts details of abuse she suffered as a child at the hands of her grandmother.

She also reveals stories of sexual abuse and assault - - traumas she says she felt compelled to share.

"it wa emotionally difficult but if i had not revealed all these things, who's gonna take advice from me?

Y'know... they need to know, hey i've been there, i've gone through a lot of horrible things and i came through it."

The book also dives into thomas scott's 60 year hollywood career - that began when she was only 3 years old.

She's worked with the likes of clint eastwood and alfred hitchcock - and among her favorite memories - the time she auditioned for the late carl reiner - and made áhim laugh.

"that just made m year and i think i say in the book and i still say on my tombstone i want it to say carl reiner thought she was funny, that's the ultimate, that's it!"

Thomas scott says she hopes fans will walk away with a better understanding of the 'real' woman behind nikki newman... "but that's no really as important to me as hoping i can help others, they don't have to be young people but ideally young people... or anybody struggling through what they think is insurmountable."

Using her experiences - the good áand the bad - as an inspiration for others.

Chris martinez, cbs news, los angeles melody thomas scott's book is on sale this week and you can catch her weekdays on "th young and the restless," righ here on wcbi.

We'll be right back to wrap things th that and more on the next midmorning.