Hello again! My name is Alec Coles-Perez, and I am a second year participant in Arizona Theatre Company's Summer on Stage program for young actors. Last year, I began this blog to document my journey through SoS, and I am so honored and ecstatic to be back online. First, a little background on myself and why I chose SoS, and then we'll get to the awesome stuff. I am eighteen years old, and a recent graduate from Marana High School. At Marana, I was given incredible opportunities and exposed to amazing theatre within our Arts Academy, which inspired my plans for next year; I plan on attending the University of Arizona to study theatre in the BFA Acting Program. At Marana, the arts building is held in the "F" building, and I am proud to say that I am what Marana Folk refer to as a "F Wing Kid." I am an avid believer of the community that is created by and thrives within the fine arts, and truly feel that theatre is a vital social, creative, and learning process that can benefit people of all ages, whether or not they intend to take theatre into their professional lives.
That being said, Summer on Stage is a place where such an idea is not only a belief, but it is a living, breathing entity created by the students and its faculty. Last year, SoS gave me the best summer of my life. As soon as the curtain closed, it wasn't even a question that I would be returning again for my final year of SoS. The culture that is created during these classes is unparalleled. SoS pushes their students, and makes them think beyond what they even believed was capable. Not only are our brains challenged and our skillset expanded, but we are taught how to take the lessons and skills we learned, and how these abilities can benefit us outside theatre. Among many things, we learn collaboration, innovation, and how to reflect on ourselves and our own personal journeys.
Today was the first day of SoS 2014, and I guess you could say I had high hopes for the first day. I am happy to tell you I wasn't disappointed.
There are so many new faces to the program this year. As I walked into the lobby of the Tornabene, the energy and the atmosphere was entirely different, yet the faces of our phenomenal leaders, such as April Jackson and Stephen Wrentmore, to name two of the many brilliant artists on the team, were a familiar sight. First day jitters were quickly pushed away with orientation and the obligatory name games and get-to-know-each-other ice breakers. The group was fun, excited and ready to begin. That's the best part of the first day, meeting new people who share the love for what you're all doing together. Everyone is friendly and smiling, and we get to do our own artsy kid, weird versions of introductions. We do weird voices, shoot each other in games of Bang, and we reenact Beauty and the Beast in anime style, it's what we do. Speaking of Beauty and the Beast, this season's shows were announced: Beauty and the Beast, directed by Katherine Monberg, and Anyone Can Whistle, directed by Amber Tibbitts. The students were presented with the concept ideas for both shows, and then read through both scripts, and that's when the second best part of the day was realized: there is so much work to do in the next five weeks. As each scene was read, and new layers of both stories were uncovered, you could see the excitement in the room grow. That's why we're all really here, to get to work, and to create beautiful art together. Or be each other's speed bumps, but you had to be there to get that one.
Day one was a success. I can't wait for the rest of my summer with my old, and new, friends.
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