Maia McDonald
Aaron and his fellow cast member during Tartuffe. It was difficult for Aaron to channel his anger and put it into his character.

All of the countless hours spent rehearsing lines and memorizing scenes paid off for Zac Aaron, junior, and Jillian Alston, senior, when they won awards at the regional level for their production of Tartuffe.

   “I devoted a lot of time and effort into my character,” Aaron said.

   Aaron received the ‘All-Star Cast’ award for his character, Orgon. Aaron’s character is portrayed as an ‘angry idiot’, and he had to learn how to channel his emotions into his character.

   “A lot of emotion in one character,” Aaron said.

   Aaron devoted a lot of his time and put all of that effort into his character’s personality. Aaron told people to make fun of him or to yell at him to get into character. Using method acting, Aaron was able to easily channel his character.

   Alston received the “Best Supporting Actress Overall” award for her performance of Mariane. Mariane was a side character to Alston at first, but she feels that she gave her more of a personality.

   “She became more sassy in my eyes,” Alston said.

   Alston turned her side character into a main character. Throughout the production, Alston and Hank Sledge, junior, were able to bond and develop their characters.

   “I just had fun on stage,” Alston said.

   Alston was very nervous on stage, so she dedicated a lot of time of hers to memorize her lines. As she got more familiar with her lines, she was more comfortable on stage.

  I feel like it would be a huge honor to receive such an award. Though I’ve never been in the drama department I can imagine that there would be so much pressure involved in the production. I cannot trust myself to constantly remember all of those things at once. About being in the right place at the right time along with being on the right pitch.

   I admire anyone that can go on stage and be so vulnerable with the audience and sing and act in front of them. I feel like having that much confidence is scary for the people fearing change.

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