Lafayette's Stranahan Lands Leading Role In "Last Hours In Suburbia"

When Lafayette's Kelcie Stranahan told her parents she wanted to give acting a shot they admit they were a little shocked.

"I remember thinking: 'who is this girl?'" said the 19-year-old's mom, Gail. "Kelcie is very shy. But she said there was something about being on stage she liked."

Evidently. Stranahan is currently in Los Angeles, going to auditions and answering callbacks, while she awaits the premiere of a Lifetime movie about a very bad night out in which she has a starring role. The movie, Last Hours In Suburbia, airs at 8 p.m. on the Lifetime channel after three weeks of filming in Worcester, Mass.

"It's her first leading role," her mom said. "She had a part in the CBS series  Without A Trace and has done other projects. But she has come a long way since dance lessons at CAPA."

Stranahan was two when she started dancing at the Moraga studio and during her later years at Happy Valley, Stanley Intermediate, Campolindo and Acalanes Independent Study she gravitated slowly, but surely, toward theatrical arts. One day, her mother said, she told them: "I like this. I want to to try acting."

The family was surprised, Stranahan's parents more than a little worried about their child's prospects in a brutally competitive field, but they sensed her resolve.

"She can handle rejection," Gail Stranahan said. "She knows what she's getting into and she has prepared herself. My husband and I look at each other and say 'how did this happen?' But she knows what she's doing."

Program Notes: "Last Hours In Suburbia" airs on Lifetime on September 22 at 8 p.m.