Student Blog: A Busy Schedule (What’s New?)

I am no stranger to a full schedule in the realm of theatre, usually finding myself engaged in several projects at once. My current calendar, for better or worse, is no different.

I just wrapped up Antigone in Munich, where I played Hans Scholl as well as serving on the Publicity and Dramaturgy crews. However, we are still waiting to hear back on whether or not we’ve been selected to perform at Arizona Thespian Festival as a mainstage. If that ends up being the case, we will have to load our set, costumes, hair and makeup materials, props, and more into several U-Hauls to bring up to the Phoenix Convention Center as we restage the show. Regardless of whether Antigone in Munich ends up performing, our Company one-act is definitely performing at state one-act competition, which could qualify us to perform at International Thespian Festival in June. We had our required public performance of When Bad Things Happen to Good Actors on Saturday night, but have had to hold on to all of our materials for when we bring it to AZ ThesFest in two weeks. For now, we’re working in class on competition prep for the district-level Hamilton Theatre Competition and regional-level Eastern Arizona Festival of Theatre. 

Beetlejuice Jr. goes up in December, and I am proud to be wearing a variety of hats for that particular production. Aside from my main responsibility of Assistant Directing the show, I am also the lead dramaturg, publicist, and a swing covering every male track in the show. I always love getting to step into the director’s shoes, and this show has been no different. It’s so much fun finally getting to work on musicals that I obsessed over as a preteen as their licensing comes out, such as Hadestown and Beetlejuice. Speaking of Hadestown, we will be performing a revival with the original cast in January, so rehearsals for that will start up again at the end of December. 

Speaking of directing, I just sent in my application to be a director for my school’s annual Student-Directed One-Acts festival. I wrote the piece myself, based on the song “Travelin’ Soldier” as performed by The Chicks. It’s a dramatic piece, which is a bit of a departure from the festival’s usual content, but I am hopeful regardless that I will be selected, given both my experience and the show’s heartfelt nature. 

In the world of choir, I made Arizona’s All-State Show Choir, one of fifteen tenors statewide to do so. I have been busy learning that music, as we are expected to show up to the festival on Thursday having our parts memorized and being ready to add choreography and musicality from the clinicians. I am super excited, if I can just get this music down.

In addition to these endeavors and the holiday season fast approaching, I am a contestant in BroadwayWorld’s NextOnStage season 5! I have been voting for myself as well as encouraging family and friends on social media to vote for me once a day per email, and it’s been super fun to see my fellow contestants and admire what everyone is bringing to the table. If you’d like, you can watch my performance and vote for me at the link below!

Thank you for reading today’s blog, and I can’t wait to keep you updated on all these exciting things coming up!

Link to vote for me in BroadwayWorld's NextOnStage season 5!