When you get on stage in front of hundreds of onlookers—and expectant judges—it's easy to choke up with stage fright. Fortunately, two talented students from the Greater Rochester area each have their own unique way of filling themselves with confidence.
"I look myself dead in the eye in the mirror, and I tell myself: you got this, you're here for a reason, you know what you're doing," says 18-year-old Addie Schulitz, a senior at Pittsford Mendon High School.
“I'll just, like, kind of lay on the floor, and I usually do a little bit of a physical warm up. So I'll stretch out a little bit, and I just try my best to get excited forget about anything else is happening um off stage," explains Gus Crawford, a 17-year-old junior from Batavia High School.
It certainly seems like they have some winning methods. Addie and Gus won the recent RBTL Stars of Tomorrow NYC Bound competition. Students from across the region are nominated to participate based on performances in their high school plays.
"I think I blacked out honestly. I was so shocked and excited," Addie recalls of the moment she heard her name called out.
She was nominated after playing a teen named Ocean who has to overcome her own death in the play Ride the Cyclone.
“It's a very emotional thing to do, and I think I really tapped into that emotion, and was able to use it in my performance," Addie explains to WXXI's Mikhaela Singleton.
"[Theater] makes me feel powerful. It makes me strong and confident."
Meanwhile, Gus earned his spot in the competition through his portrayal of the plucky and mischievous conman, Dimitri, in Anastasia.
“One thing about the character of Dimitri that I was able to bring out is his optimism and his hopefulness deep down.," Gus shares.
"He might not always show it on the surface, but I think that through my performance, I really kind of brought that out as compared to some other people might have performed the role, because I relate to that in a lot of ways."
Now that they've passed the regional qualifier, both are on their way Friday to Broadway in New York City. There, they'll undergo more than a week of intense coaching from some of the brightest stars on stage.
Then, they'll do their best against teens from all over America in the National High School Musical Theatre Awards—also known as The Jimmy Awards, named after legendary Broadway theatre owner and producer James M. Nederlander.
“A lot of the past winners of the Jimmy Awards, [have] gone on to be some of the biggest stars on Broadway right now. I think even just being in the same breath as some of those people who have taken that stage would just be such an honor," Gus says.
The Rochester Broadway Theatre League's Stars of Tomorrow education program promotes performing arts in local schools.
Holly Valentine is RBTL's Director of Education and Community Engagement. She says she’s proud to watch all the fledgling thespians who competed this year emerge as beautiful swans.
“Whether or not they go into a field in the arts, it is so proven that kids in the arts are confident, they are dedicated, they are time managers, they're creative, they think outside the box," says Valentine.
