My PLAYful Experience by Alivia Wagner

My name is Alivia Wagner, I am a freshman at Nathan Hale. Being a part of the fall play has been so much fun. I love the student leadership, students are in charge of costumes, lighting, tech, etc. My middle school theater experiences were mostly one director talking at us. Mr. Roby considers our ideas and tries to incorporate what he can into the show. Students warm us up with stretches and tongue twisters. In this time, we go around and answer questions to connect and get to know each other. In the past, I associated the ensemble with background people that appear maybe once or twice. Being a part of the ensemble this year, Mr. Roby and the cast have shown me a new definition of what it means to be part of the ensemble. I have been able to watch and learn from the upper-classmen and higher parts. I get to explore myself as an actor by portraying different background characters and with each one, though they do not speak, I am able to try different personalities and people through my body movement and gestures. For a beginner like me being part of the ensemble has opened a whole new window of my acting abilities and how powerful body language can be onstage. It has connected me with a whole new group of people who are so talented that I get to study and get advice from. I feel very lucky to be part of the play this year and plan to continue with it so long as Mr. Roby is in charge.