Student Blog: Beginnings of a High School Acting Major

Hey there, Broadway World! My name is Maxwell DeVivo, and I'm thrilled to be writing for the Student Blogger Spring Season this year. I am 15 years old and currently in the middle of my freshman year at the Grunin Performing Arts Academy (GPAA) in Toms River, New Jersey. In my short amount of time at GPAA, I have been granted so many incredible opportunities, made so many new friends, and have begun expanding my knowledge and craft in the performing arts field.

Having been raised by my parents who are both theater teachers, you can imagine how quickly I caught the theater bug. At first, performing wasn't even something I would ever dream of doing. "That's what mom and dad do," I always thought, "why should I have any interest in it?" In my early years of elementary and middle school, I would often find joy in participating in sports like soccer, swimming or archery. These were fun for a while, but the more I continued to play these sports, they became repetitive and almost boring. It was always the same thing. You come to practice, you play around for a little bit, you compete every once in a while, and that's all there really was to it. All of it just felt so flat and meaningless to me the more I did it. I needed to have an experience where I could do something new, meaningful and exciting every single time I went back to it. Something I could willingly work at over and over again without getting bored. That's when musical theatre finally entered.

In 5th grade, I met my Best Friend, Aldan P.  We would often play video games together, we shared similar music tastes, and we just overall really connected and that created our friendship. He was also really into the arts, specifically musical theatre. The summer of 2021, when we were going into 6th grade, Aldan's parents had recommended to my parents that I do a summer theater program with him. The show was Willy Wonka Jr., at The Count Basie Theatre for the Arts in Red Bank, NJ. I immediately signed up for it because I wanted to spend time with my friend. I did the show, but didn't really know what to think of the whole experience. The next summer, going into 7th grade, I signed up again. This time we were doing Newsies Jr., and I got cast as Davey. From there, I fell in love with musical theatre. I continued to do musical theatre by doing my middle school plays and joining their Jr. Thespian Troupe. I even got involved in performing at local regional community theatres like the Algonquin Arts Theatre & OCC Repertory Theatre, which I am still associated with today.

When it came time to graduate middle school, I knew I wanted to continue pursuing and crafting my theatre skill, but I didn't know how to do that, especially starting in a new school with people I'd never met. Then, I learned about the Grunin Performing Arts Academy. I auditioned to join as an Acting Major, I got in, and that's where I'm at now! I absolutely love it, down to every little thing about the school. The school is so wonderful because while all the students there learn everyday subjects like math, English and history, we also get to take classes that allow us to learn about our respective majors.

At GPAA, I am an acting major. I have Theater I & Tech Theater every day, second period. Throughout the year so far, my acting class of thirteen students and myself have learned about a variety of theater forms and techniques such as mechanics of the voice, movement, diction & speech, Laban, pantomime, non-verbal actions, and more. Tech Theater focuses more on what happens behind the scenes, such as theater hierarchy, set, costume & prop design, parts of the stage,  and more. These classes have proven extremely helpful in the theater world for me, and I look forward to continuing to expand my knowledge and craft.

In the coming next few months, I have a few exciting shows and projects coming up. Currently, I'm playing the role of Peter van Daan in Algonquin Arts Theatre's production of The Diary of Anne Frank. The show is February 15th-22nd, 2025, so catch it if you can! After that, I have a few more projects. For my school's Freshman Spring Showcase, my class and I will be performing a short play, Juliet & This Guy Named Romeo. After that, I'm proud to announce that GPAA's production of Harry Potter & the Cursed Child: HSE has been one of the eight high school shows in the country to perform at Bloomington University, Indiana, for the International Thespians Festival (ITF) this June! I'm absolutely thrilled to jump back into this show and reprise the role of Draco Malfoy, along with my brilliant cast of school peers.

That's my introduction! Looking forward to continuing to write for Broadway World's Student Spring Season Program this year. I hope you all enjoy! 

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