Story by Elizabeth Sims
Video by Jack Hobbs

A theater student is fairly easy to pick out from the crowded hallways. They are usually the ones humming show tunes on their way to class or running lines with each other during lunch. Some are in the department to have a creative outlet, while others seek to pursue a career in the performing arts.

To help the students who wish to continue with theater into college and beyond, a new class called Studio Premiere was added to the theater program. Taught by Lisa Tabor, the head of the theater department, this class prepares seniors for college auditions and a one man show at the end of the year and furthers the acting education of juniors.

“This class was added so that we could take those kids that were really wanting to study acting and hopefully go into it as a career or go into a [Bachelor of the Fine Arts] program,” Tabor said. “We wanted to give them the preparation and skills they would need to get into the colleges.”

As they worked on monologues, Shakespearean selections, songs and on-camera skills, the students’ education was broadened to give them more experience for the future. Junior Emily McIntyre enrolled in Studio Premiere for the challenge of an advanced class and to gain more opportunities to work on her acting skills.

“I decided that this would be a great opportunity for me to take an advanced acting class and get all the opportunities that the other classes may have offered me in the past, but this class exemplifies it,” McIntyre said. “It is not only getting the competitiveness of working with kids that are very talented, but also working with text that, sometimes, is really difficult to understand let alone act out and convey the message and make it believable.”

After taking a theater class for his first three years of high school, senior Alex Smith wanted to finish with a class that would prepare him for a future in acting. As a result of the preparation he received from this class, Smith got over 20 callbacks for his college auditions and will be able to pursue his dream of being an actor that he has had since childhood.

“This class has taken the time to really help me found out who I am as an actor and who I want to sell myself as,” Smith said. “Because of that and because of the college auditions, I will be able to go into a college that will really help me grow and shape me as a person and a performer.”

In addition to preparing these students for the future, it also provides them with a group of friends to challenge them and comfort them as they learn and grow.

“I love working with all of the people in the class. It is always just a wonderful group of friends to come back to, and they are always a wonderful support group,” Smith said. “If you do not have anyone that will nurture you and help you grow then it is never going to happen.”

With this being the second year Studio Premiere has been offered, Tabor has high hopes for the class and the students who take it in the future.

“I hope [Studio Premiere] continues to grow. I have kids in here who want to major in theater, but I also have kids who maybe just want to continue it in their life by doing community theater and all of that,” Tabor said. “So I hope it continues to grow so that even if we do not make actors out of them, they at least will continue to be patrons of the theater.”

The students in this class have already shown their passion for theater with their success outside of the classroom. Last summer, McIntyre competed against 60 other students from across the country at the Jimmy Awards on Broadway and received the Rising Junior Award. This accomplishment has given her the opportunity to go to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to pursue her interest in musical theater, this summer.

Last week, Smith found out he had been accepted into Pace University in New York, and will hear if he made it into their musical theater program in March. In addition to Smith’s success at the college auditions, senior Maria Zuniga received 20 callbacks, Mallory Osigian got 18 and Amanda Clark and Tatiana Gantt each received 10 callbacks.