As two children play on an icy reservoir, it starts to break. They both fall in and begin to drown. A 15-year-old girl frantically calls 911 and then rushes to save them. After her grandfather revives one of the little girls, both children barely survive.

Langley senior Morgan Ladd will be playing the part of the teenage girl, on the new TV show “Panic” (which is based on a true story) on A&E. According to Ladd, the show “reenacts real 911 phone calls. Each episode, they feature different scenarios, playing the actual 911 phone calls in the background while actors reenact the situation.” The rising actress tells the Saxon Scope about her experiences so far and of what is yet to come.

Saxon Scope: Who is your character on “Panic”?

Morgan Ladd: For the episode I’m in, I play the lead part of a 15-year-old girl who calls the police after looking outside her window and seeing two little children drowning in the frozen over reservoir outside her house. (My little sister in real life got the role of one of the little girls who drowns!) I don’t ever speak in the episode, because the real 911 phone call of my character’s voice is playing in the background, but I act everything out.

SS: What was the audition process like?

ML: I got a call from my agent about the audition, and drove up to the casting network’s headquarters in Silver Springs with my mom and my baby sister. First, I was put in front of a camera and a man asked me just to do facial expressions. Afterwards, I had to read lines from the actual 911 phone call (even though I wouldn’t actually be speaking at all in the episode) and act it out on camera. Finally, he filmed me just simply walking up and down a hallway. After that, my sister had her audition. They were looking for a pair of sisters, or girls that looked very similar to each other. The very next day, we got a call that we made it on the show.

SS: What was your favorite part of filming the episode?

ML: My favorite part of filming the episode was definitely getting to see how different things are on set from what it looks like on TV. We didn’t go to a real frozen reservoir of water. We actually just went to someone’s backyard pool in Arlington. We used Plexiglas as ice, and we used a brown tarp to make the water look dark. They threw some leaves and branches into the pool, and that was it! It looked so ridiculous, but when I watched the footage from the shoot, it looked so real. It was so interesting to see how they really do things. It also shows you why you should never believe half of the things you see on TV. About 99% of the time, it’s all fake.

SS: How do you feel about being a part of a show on such a well-known TV station?

ML: It’s so nerve-wracking, but it’s such an amazing experience. It’ll be so weird watching myself on A&E, and knowing so many other people are watching me at the same time.