Semira Robinson ’23
For me, DramaLabs means a lot about creative freedom, in the sense that it is a learning process. Running DramaLabs and taking them on is also about figuring out what you want as a director, actor, and who you’re going to become, whether you’re involved in theater or elsewhere, the skills you learn in DramaLabs are very applicable to other aspects of everyday life, whether that be public speaking or in exercising your creative mind. And so to me, DramaLabs is about growing, not only as people and actors and directors, but as students in harnessing the opportunities that are available to us at Andover and different spheres of life.
Dori Rosenstrauch ’23
I think Andover provides you with a lot of opportunities to engage in theater in a range of commitments. Especially in DramaLabs, I’ve had a couple of people tell me, ‘Oh, I was never really into theater, I just wanted to audition for a skit, and now I love performing and want to do more.’ And that was honestly similar to me. I thought I would do it once or twice and now, I’m a producer. I think engage as much as you want. That’s the wonderful thing about Andover, you have so many opportunities to explore things that you’re interested in. DramaLabs definitely offers you a space to dip your toe into the theater world. Auditioning for 901s is also a great way to do it. Just basically, if you think it would be fine, go for it! Throw your hat in the ring. See what happens. It probably will end up being better than you could have ever imagined.
Jessica Li ’24
For me, I only actually got into theater this past winter, and a lot of my entry into the theater department at Andover was because of the current producers. In the productions I’ve participated in at Andover so far, I’ve been really warmly welcomed by the Class of ’22 producers. They made me really love the community because of how much love and support I received, along with their willingness to accept me into the community. Because I was inspired by the Class of ’22 producers, what I wanted to do in this position when I was applying and now is to really stress that DramaLabs and even term-contained productions are a really good entryway into theater here regardless of previous experience, because the theater community at Andover truly will welcome you with open arms, and I want to emanate that for the current students, because I know theater is something that a lot of people want to try because they think it’s cool, but they’re apprehensive to because it can be a little intimidating. I mean, you have to memorize lines, and perform in front of people. I guess I really want to bring DramaLabs and theater to the people who are interested but are initially scared to try, and I want to show them how welcoming and fun and enjoyable it can be.
Raina Yang ’24
It’s an amazing opportunity to involve myself more with Drama Labs and other things that the Theatre Department does. And also more opportunities to work with both the staff and the students. I do Tech, which also means that I get to make DramaLabs a better platform in terms of technical theater, because that’s something the past producers hadn’t touched on as much. I want to improve that in the future.
There’s a lot of opportunities and the Theatre Department encourages you to try new things. I moved from front stage to backstage, so I would encourage everyone to try all aspects of theater, not just acting, but also the backstage things too.
Theo Randall ‘23
The first time is by far the hardest time, signing up for any sort of show or audition, the very first time, that’s the real struggle. Once you’ve gotten past that point it gets so much easier so quickly and I feel like we just have to, when I say we, I mean the theater community, we have to encourage people to just try it out, give it a shot, put your name down and if you don’t like it, you don’t like it. It’s just really an amazing experience to be a part of theater and it takes a lot of courage to make that first step and then from there on it’s a lot smoother sailing, so my advice is just try it out, see if you like it, and if you do, great! Welcome to the theater community.
Editor’s Note: Semira Robinson ’23 is a Copy Editor for The Phillipian.
Editor’s Note: Raina Yang ’24 is a Graphic Editor for The Phillipian.
