A New Spotlight

This troupe group does family like no other.

Essy Ingram, Staff Reporter|February 10, 2020

Zoe Michals, Krystal Arias, and Rachel Vrazel gaze at a distant point in awe. Theatre is the common denominator of each of these bright individuals.

Francis Howell Central High offers 53 clubs and 24 sports over the course of one school year. The sheer magnitude of available extracurriculars can be overwhelming to any student who wants to find their “thing”. With limited time, it’s impossible to try each club and gauge how right it may be. One in particular stands apart from the others, a different species of extracurricular: theatre.

The members of the theatre make it what it is. Their all-inclusive attitude is enticing; it inspires excitement, especially in new members. Sophomore Jenna Woelfel planned to try it out her freshman year, a bold move made easier with its encouraging troupe.

“We were in the gym and they had all the clubs out… so I went up there and they were talking to me and they went ‘You should join!’ And I’m not a very bold person, which is kinda what you need to be, and they went `No, no, no, anyone can do it! You will find your place,’” Woelfel explained.

The club itself beholds a spectrum of roles to take on that can appeal to an array of personalities.

“Whether you like painting or whether you like doing costumes and whether you like… helping people, acting, you will find your place,” Woelfel concludes.

The skills developed within the club offer the ability to collaborate on two large projects (a fall play and spring musical) annually, as well as allowing the members to enjoy the bonds they create along the way.

“[Being apart of theatre] is knowing that you have a whole army with you with anything that you do,” Woelfel said.

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[Being apart of theatre] is knowing that you have a whole army with you with anything that you do.

— Jenna Woelfel

The actual participation in the club can consist of courses taken during school, like Actor’s Studio or other technical theatre classes. It can otherwise take the form as a purely extracurricular activity. Senior and Theater Vice President Isaiah Henry, involves himself in the latter form of theatre.

“Since my freshman year, I’ve been on cast, except in ‘Twelve Angry Jurors’, when I was a student director, which I had a lot of fun doing,” Henry explained.

There are endless specializations within the club, waiting to be explored, an aspect individual to theatre. Its family-like aura also contributes to its uniqueness.

“I know that everyone in [theatre] is supporting me and they’re all my friends, so I don’t feel like I have to hide an aspect of my personality. I can just be whoever I want to be and who I actually am when I’m in theatre,” Henry furthered.

Theater coordinator and sponsor Mrs. Cori Stallard started her career onstage from the age of nine. She fell in love with the energy of the stage and has had a passion for it ever since.

“I just can’t wait to do the next show because it’s just being creative and problem solving and thinking outside the box; it challenges you intellectually,” Stallard said.

This “creative storytelling” can be an imaginative outlet just as well as a way to meet new people.

“We try and make it a homey feeling,” Stallard explained, “and I think that it’s nice that everybody’s accepted. It doesn’t matter — everybody’s so diverse and open.”