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Louisville thespians on what sparks the performance
Louisville thespians on what sparks the performance
Ava Behjat '27
Ava Behjat '27
Opinion Page Editor
Opinion Page Editor
After a stunning performance of “Lord of the Flies”, I had the chance to sit down with theater enthusiast Elle Blount ’27 to explore what drives her love of the arts. Blount immediately beamed at my question, replying, “It’s my creative outlet…I am considering being an actor. Performing is one step deeper than reading a book. You are getting to go into the mindset of the character and understand why they do what they do. It helps me understand people as a whole much better.”
Fascinated by Blount’s outlook on her experience in the spotlight, I decided to interview more theater students. Some, like Natalya Sarac ’27, who sees herself as a doctor in the future, use it as a place not to pursue the performing arts as a future career but as a space to have fun and let their imaginations run loose.
Louisville's theater students practicing for Lord of the Flies.
“I’ve always been interested in theater since I was seven years old,” Nell Brickman ’27 explains, though she wants nothing more than a career in marine biology. “But theater fulfills my artistic side.”
Interestingly, many of these students describe themselves as introverts, who find theater to be an unexpected yet liberating way to let their true personalities shine through. As many students tried to explain to me, theater is not only for the extroverted.
Sophia Tejwani ’27, who wants to double major in business and performing arts, has cited high school theater productions as her inspiration for wanting to create her own acting company while also being able to navigate the entertainment industry independently. She considers herself to be logical while also emotional, artistic and analytical, which resulted in a fascinating blend of interests in finance, singing, mathematics and dance. Tejwani, who is a recent transfer student, has described the Louisville theater kids as extensions of her family who rely on each other for emotional support.
Theater has become a place for students to understand and connect with each other.
Erika Huanca Vargas ’27 has always been in love with the idea of beginnings.
“Theater is the beginning of something I can look forward to. A song is the beginning. A scene is the beginning. That feeling of beginning can only be felt after the performance ends where only the cast members understand that they come back a different person,” shared Vargas.
When embodying a character, actors see the world around them in an empathetic lens, even when looking directly into the eyes of the so-called “villains” of the world. In this space of sympathy and love, students have found a similar nurturing bond in one another. But isn’t that the essence of art? It’s a reminder that beneath the human pain that we experience is an infinite spring of love for the existence around us, a compassion so profound that it transcends language into the realm of dance, song and performance.
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