This spring, MSHS students will be putting on “The Snow” at the district auditorium. For a handful of seniors, this will be their final high school production.
Megan Taylor, a senior participating in the play this semester, began her theater career at a young age. She auditioned at a professional theater called Papermill Playhouse in Millburn New Jersey, which gained popularity for being the place “Newsies” opened before it was transferred to Broadway. “I auditioned to be young Fiona and Pinocchio in their professional production of “Shrek The Musical” and I didn’t get in, I decided I hated theater, I was never going to be in theater ever,” Taylor said. “And then I came to sixth grade and I saw my best friend Kai acting in a play, and I was like hey, I want to get to know that guy a little more.”
After being inspired to audition by Kai Jacobson (12), Taylor enjoyed the first production she played a role in. “I auditioned for my first play, it was really tough and the majority of the kids that auditioned were cut, but I was really lucky to get a minor character as a little girl with a stomach ache, which describes me very well,” Taylor said. “And then from that point onward, I just got hooked on theater.”
Taylor enjoys the process of building a production as a community, and the feeling like no other that strikes when the show begins. “There’s really no other feeling than that adrenaline rush when you get on stage and you can’t see anyone in the audience, there’s a bright light flashing down on you,” Taylor Said. “You really build a community every time you do a play and you foster an incredible project with an incredible group of people that you get to nurture for a few weeks or even several months at a time before you get to perform it all together.”
Taylor plans on studying theater in college, but wanted a final goodbye to Wendy Harms, the theater teacher at MSHS, and the theater community as a whole. “I really just wanted one last hurrah with Wendy and the wonderful people in the theater here because I absolutely love the community that we build here,” Taylor said. “I’ve been speaking to Ms. Harms about how I’m going to move on and do this in college and hopefully professionally, so being able to have this place where I started and knowing I’ll be doing new things, it’s really bittersweet.”
Along with Taylor, Ethan Anderson (12) will also be participating in the spring play.
His first performance was “Fiddler On The Roof”, during his sophomore year, which encouraged him to expand his social circle during a difficult time in his life. “When I first came into high school, I had a pretty bad social anxiety problem, I was having panic attacks pretty frequently. I joined Ms. Harms theater arts class, because I thought this would be good exposure therapy for me,” Anderson said. “And it was then that I started theater, not just because I love it and I love the art of it, but also because it was really good for me to do things that were scary.”
Since Anderson is going to college for art, this will be a bittersweet moment. “This might be one of the last times I do theater, since I’m a senior, I would like to pursue it, but it’s not what I’m going to college for,” Anderson said.
Anderson enjoys the way that the community builds something great as a group, and in turn encourages everyone as individuals. “All of the hard work that you put in to make something beautiful, and all the friends that you make, that’s kind of addicting for me,” Anderson said. “When you’re on the stage, and everything just goes perfectly and you have this moment of realization, thinking oh my god, I can do really cool stuff.”
Additionally, Jacobson feels that theater has always been a big part of his life. Even at a young age, he showed his passion for theater to his parents. “I’ve done theater since I was four, I would do little performances for my parents all the time, I would perform homemade musicals, I would write little plays, I would always do that,” Jacobson said. “So in elementary school I did the fifth grade play, which was “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and that’s when I found my passion for theater.”
Jacobson has been committed to his theater career throughout high school, and is excited that his final high school production will be “The Snow”. “In high school I did all the plays I could do freshman year until now and this is the last play, and it’s my favorite playwright,” Jacobson said. “I did one of his plays a couple years ago and we won first place at the regionals and now we’re doing another one of his plays and I think it’s a good final goodbye to theater at Manitou.”
Jacobson thinks that theater can bring a story to life. “I think it’s a really amazing form of storytelling, that brings the story to life like a movie would, but it’s more personal and feels like you’re actually there with the story.” Jacobson said. “I’ve always seen that, and the artistic element, and the music of theater, and all of that has always just been so pretty to me.”
Jacobson also enjoys the community he has found in the MSHS theater department. “I’ve realized that the community in theater is just so great and a lot of schools don’t have such a welcoming and joyful theater community that Manitou has,” Jacobson said. “I think it’s really great that we have such a welcoming and kind community that lets anybody into it, and has very little to no drama.”
Jacobson is going to college for theater, acting, or musical theater. “I’m excited to move on to do theater with new people and new directors, and in a new space,” Jacobson said. “For the last seven years I’ve done every single one of my plays in the exact same theater and I’m excited to move on, but also a little sad that this is the last one.”
