It was an incredibly difficult decision. From more than 100 submissions, we selected nine finalists.
Any one of them could have played a convincing
Thelma. But one of them, America Eri Lopez, invested that certain something into her responses during a series of written essays and
real time (instant message) interviews that told us we had found the girl to give Thelma M. Barnes a voice. But in a surprise turn of events, the producers and author of 'Conversations With A Dead Girl' have decided to cast the other finalists
in the roles of Thelma's mother, Reita, and Thelma's closest friends, the girls from her Los Angeles neighborhood and her classmates at the Redondo School in Redondo Beach...the girls who grew to love Thelma and who were devistated by her loss. Research begins right away on the other girls in Thelma's life. The plot thickens.
The story is richer for it.
