Jest Laugh Scholarship

Who would have guessed that in my freshman year of high school, I would be studying from my basement at home and videotaping myself as four different characters getting into an argument during a road trip? Yeah, if someone guesses that one, I will be thoroughly impressed. The reason for this wonky performance during the COVID-19 pandemic was that I had joined my high school’s forensics club. As an already budding theater kid who wanted to pursue musical theater, I was looking high and low for opportunities to improve my performance as I am from a microscopic high school. A small town in the middle of Wisconsin with about 200 students in the whole high school, needless to say, there weren’t many options for theater or any type of performing available, especially with a growing pandemic at the time. I longed to be in full shows, sing ballads, and dance in the show choir, however none of that was happening. So, when I found out that the public speaking group, forensics, had acting categories I dived in. To this day I know not why I decided to go with a humorous monologue over a dramatic one. I hadn’t done a lot of comedy before and honestly, I wasn’t too comfortable with it at the time so trying to jump between 4 different characters with very contrasting voices was a struggle for me. However, because it was something new, I spent a lot of time on it and had a blast doing so. It gave me something to do and a way to annoy my parents which is just what every good pre-teen wants so it was a win-win. After starting to love comedy, I started to notice its impact in the shows I was watching as well. Even my favorite sad musicals had comedy in them. For example, my favorite show of all time, “Les Misérables” has a decent amount of comedy including a full song for comedic relief. And without those moments the show would be way too heavy and hard to watch. Comedy is what allows truly serious theater to exist as well as shows dedicated mostly to comedy. Long story short, my big lesson in discovering this was that comedy was not just something you could choose or opt out of. It is something every performer has to be proficient in because it will be in every show without fail. After this moment I proceeded to go on to play many “comedic” roles including Sophie Sheridan (Mamma Mia), Rusty (Footloose), and Hope Cladwell (Urinetown). These are some of my favorite roles to date and was the reason I also stuck with humorous acting through every year in forensics. Currently, I am trying to get into my college’s improvisation group, “Merely Players” on campus. My first audition was a no, however that doesn’t stop me from trying again next semester. I am also looking forward to joining the cast of “Head Over Heels” next semester as part of the ensemble in a more comedic show. Now the question I dreaded through all of high school (because musical theater was an interesting response coming from a small town of low income.) Honestly, I used to joke that what I wanted to do in theater was whatever would pay, but that wasn’t necessarily a lie. I love theater and performing in general and am fully ready to either take my career to show people how much I love it or teach people and inspire them to love the performing arts just as much as I do.