As the end of the year approaches, seniors are getting ready to graduate and move on from their high school lives.
Seniors in sports and clubs especially have to prepare for their final game, match, or, in the case of drama, play.
Trinity Turner is a senior here at PHS, and she is part of the Drama Club. She recently performed her final play last week when the Drama Club performed their final play of the year, Singin’ in the Rain.
Turner has been a part of Drama for nine years. She originally joined Drama in fourth grade at S Ellen Jones. She was also a part of the Drama Club at Hazelwood Middle School and has been a part of three Drama Clubs in high school: New Albany High School, Jeffersonville High School, and Paoli High School.
Turner’s favorite role that she has portrayed was from her time at Hazelwood Middle School.
“My favorite role was probably being the escapologist in Matilda, because it was really fun playing a man,” said Turner.
When Turner was reminiscing on past productions, some memorable moments came to mind.
“Definitely not a good memory, but last year, when I was playing Regina, I got slammed into a wall, and I got bruised all over. I went on stage, crying for the next scene, but the show must go on. It’s really funny to look back, and it’s an inside joke now,” Turner.
A sense of community is very important to Turner when it comes to the Drama Club. One person in particular who supports and inspires her is Assistant Director Chris Lindley.
“Honestly, Mr. Lindley encourages me the most. He’s very sweet, and he’s helped me a lot in many different ways, like through faith and through acting, and he’s just a very good role model,” said Turner.
Throughout her time in Drama, Turner has had to develop various skills to help her perform better on stage. One of the most difficult skills to learn for Turner is portraying subtle emotions.
“The most difficult thing for me was definitely learning new emotions. There are easy emotions to portray in theater, such as anger, love, and all of that. The harder emotions are when you have to be subtle about it. In some shows, you can’t be over dramatic, especially in straight plays. Sometimes they’re more serious than musicals, and so it’s really hard to just be subtle about it and still portray that on stage,” said Turner.
There are many other ways Turner prepares to perform.
“I will read the script a million times, watch the show, learn the songs, and do method acting. Sometimes I’ll just be at home and talk like the character, read the script like her, maybe read a book like her, and just try and embody that character,” said Turner.
Although Drama is a part of her high school life, it likely will not be a part of her college life or career.
“I’m not 100% sure if I’m going to do it in college, but I’m pretty sure this is probably going to be my last show. So I’m very sad, because it’s been a huge part of my life. But all things must come to an end eventually, and it was a good time,” said Turner.
