I have been performing on stage since 2014. My first production being Schoolhouse Rock which I loved, however it was not until 2017 while performing in a production of Hairspray that my love for Theatre truly ignited…

We were backstage. The nerves I felt that day were like none I had ever felt before. There was a speaker onstage, an alumni I think although I am honestly not sure. I hid behind the curtain as if it could shield me. Defend me against the monstrous crowd that waited on the other side. A crowd filled to the brim with old people and supportive classmates,... a performers worst nightmare. I stood in silence as people quietly talked around me, until the banging began. The pit had come to life, playing saxophone licks and slamming on the drums. They were introducing the show, and I was not ready. When I finally stepped on stage something happened. A change occurred within me. An energy I had never felt before, as I looked out at the shadows under the stage the lights I smiled. The last thing that I expected to do. I smiled and felt myself become my character. It was as if I had been hit by a magic spell.

It seems almost comedic now how such a small leap managed to scare me. In the future years I would go on to pop out of a pickle barrel, run down a flight of stairs in diving flippers, and begin the show with a dance solo. My time at the Victoria Theater changed my life, and created the performer that I now am.