If you’re an avid theater kid or patron of the arts at Lakeside, or if maybe you just had a friend or two in the show, you may have seen the 1980s-style take on “Much Ado About Nothing” that occupied St. Nicks in mid-November. Beyond the Lakeside stage, though, several seniors are working for local student-run theater companies — and you may even be lucky enough to catch them performing on an outside-of-school stage.
Since Janet D. ’25 has been an upperclassman, she’s participated in every Lakeside theater production, from directing a CIRCUS! play that reimagined the story of Adam and Eve to co-starring as Beatrice in “Much Ado.” But outside of school, she’s also involved in Young Americans Theater Company (YATC, pronounced like the dice game). The program is completely student-run, and Janet now serves on the board as the Casting and Outreach Director.
She started off, though, acting in a YATC summer 2024 production of “The Wolves.” “It’s about teen girl soccer players who experience a lot of relationship troubles and different issues,” says Janet, and the play is more about character development than actual plot. The show was her first experience performing outside of Lakeside — Janet says it was “interesting to see different ways of acting,” since she’d only previously worked with Micky and Alban-trained students. She remembers eight-hour tech rehearsals during the hottest week of the year and days spent finding open spaces to rehearse, often parks, to preserve YATC’s limited budget.
When asked why people should participate in theater outside of school, Janet sighs and warns that this won’t be much of a concise elevator pitch. To sum it up, theater has given her a creative outlet and helped her better empathize with people, Janet says, and though she’s more interested in pursuing STEM than the arts, theater has “helped me realize how much I want to impact people.”
On the other hand, Kyle F. ’25 is planning to study drama beyond high school, and his external theater experiences have given him an introduction to and education on Seattle’s local theater scene. He’s a two-time participant and board member of 14/48: HS, during which 14 original short plays are written and performed over one weekend, and in his junior year, he was a Seattle Theatre Group (STG) Young Ambassador.
Through the STGYA program, which runs from October to June, Kyle had the opportunity to sign up for various “engagements.” These have included shadowing a stage manager during “Moore Music at the Moore,” talking to “The Book of Mormon” cast members when the national tour stopped at the Paramount Theater, and giving an introductory speech in English and Spanish for “Bluey’s Big Play!”. He also volunteered for sensory-friendly performances, handing out fidgets at the doors and helping run a “touch tour,” which allows visually impaired audience members to feel and learn about the props and costumes before the show.
STGYA is special because not only is the time commitment low — engagements are on weekends, and group meetings are only once a month — the organization pays students to participate. “The point of the Young Ambassadors program is that most young people don’t get to spend time committing time to the arts because it’s not very lucrative, especially at a low level,” says Kyle. He highly recommends applying to the program for those interested in any sort of career in the arts, onstage or off.
When I ask Shepard S. ’25 what he’s done in local theater, he only responds with “The better question is, what have I not done?” While Shepard regrets not joining Lakeside’s drama productions sooner, he’s made up for it with the many more he has under his belt. For example, while he missed Lakeside’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the play was his first show with Seattle Shakespeare back in 2017. Ever since, he’s done eight more. One of his favorites was in 2019, when he played Malvolio in Twelfth Night, a dream role for him. “He’s still kind of my dream role now because I would want to see what new things I could bring as a much older actor.”
These productions have been formative to Shepard’s growth as an actor, and he especially accredits the directors, professionals in local theater. One that’s especially stuck with him directed his latest production of Julius Caesar, where Shepard starred as Brutus, as he admired her ability to bring energy to both the show and its actors.
Shepard’s advice highlights the Lakeside drama department’s great opportunity yet limited scope. If you’re passionate about the art of acting and excited to meet new people, local theater is what you need. “It’s been nice to experience a wide range of communities … and to engage with artists from very different backgrounds, and certainly different age ranges.”
While our next actor has many claims to fame in the world of local theater, she is equally dedicated to shows right here in St. Nicholas: Bella M. ’25 has acted in every production at Lakeside. For her, even choosing a favorite musical, let alone overall show, is hard: “It’s really tough, it’s right there between Matilda and Les Misérables … Let’s go Matilda.”
Ever since her debut in the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s The Nutcracker, Bella has participated in many different productions around the city. One standout is the Seattle Rep’s recent run of The Skin of Our Teeth, where she volunteered as a walk-on. “That was really exciting because you get to be a part of something that’s already been in the works for months, and it’s this feeling of awe.”
Bella says that there are many benefits to participating in local theater, despite the extended time commitments. Most productions ask for at least five hours a week, and the most demanding of hers so far has been the play The Effect at the Northwest Folk Life Festival, which reached up to 20 hours a week. It’s all worth it in the end, though, for the meaningful connections made in the community, such as when she met a leading actress in The Skin of Our Teeth. “On my way out, I saw her getting out of her wig, and I was able to take a moment and say how incredible I thought her performance was, and she seemed to really appreciate what I said.”
