Student Blog: Curtain Up on Senior Year

There’s nothing like the start of a brand new school year. Finding your friends in your classes, figuring out who to sit by, the thrill (or terror) of your class schedule, and much more! For students involved in theatre, it’s more than homework and textbooks. It’s the stress of auditions, having your free time narrowed down by long rehearsals, and trying to figure out how to memorize that one monologue while studying for your history test. As a senior in high school who goes to school in a small town in Indiana, I was not able to take any performance classes due to scheduling issues. However, even with this minor setback, I have been able to figure out how to incorporate the art of performance and acting in many different ways. Along with figuring out how to incorporate my love for theatre and the arts into my classes, I also had to figure out how to juggle running a social media page for my drama club and run a radio station for my local radio station. 

Going into this new school year, I knew it would be a challenge. From being in charge of a social media page and a radio station to keeping my grades up to be able to be exempt from my finals in the springtime. However, as always, I was stoked for a challenge. In the first few weeks of school, I got super stressed and nervous with how the year was going to go. However, as the weeks went on, I slowly began to realize that the amount of work I had wouldn’t be as much of an issue as I thought it would be. Other than the issues of thinking my workload being too much, the ease into senior year hasn’t been too bad!

Luckily, I only had to deal with the sadness of not having any rehearsals after school for a few weeks before getting to one of the most exciting (and stressful) days of the year, auditions for the fall show. Going into this year I knew the show would be different than any other show I’ve ever done. This is mainly because all we knew about the show going into auditions was that it was going to be a documentary, suspense play that merges fact with fiction. Along with not knowing what we were auditioning for, we were also told that whoever was casted and involved in this production (in any way) would be sworn to absolute secrecy to keep the suspense of the play from the audience. Along with being in the fall play, I’ve been juggling being in show choir and managing a radio station which is just as much (if not more) work than being in the play. But I am always up for a challenge!

In summary, the first month of school hasn’t been as bad or stressful as everyone said it would be! I was also lucky enough to see Come From Away at the end of August which was a good way to wrap up my first month of senior year! It was such a moving performance! It was also my third time seeing the show! Even though the year is going to get more busy with tests, essays, and presentations, I am looking forward to what the rest of this year brings! Especially as November gets closer and we get closer to opening our secret play!