Senior Ethan Eberhard is no stranger to the stage. He has found his place within the drama community and enjoys the support he feels there. Here, he details just what theater has meant to him over the past four years.

Q: How long have you been doing theater for?
A: I started theater my freshman year. Well, I did choir in middle school and that in itself is a form of theater. In high school is when I started getting into acting, and it started with the freshman play, I got into the freshman play, speech cycle. I started with speech then and continued from there.

Q: What is one of the main reasons you enjoy theater?
A: I enjoy being able to like escape and be a different person for a minute and also I enjoy the art of acting in itself. I feel like it is a very cool art form and interesting to look at the way people react and how you implement that into situations

Q: On that same idea, what are some things you have learned from theater that you can apply to your everyday life?
A: In a weird way, I have learned to be more genuine with people. While acting, you’re always putting up a front. I learned how to disregard that front or notice when I’m putting up that front and changing that.

Q: Can you describe your favorite production you’ve been apart of
A: Honestly, I’m really enjoying being in GI (Group Interpretation) right now. GI is this theater group where we put on a 30 minute production, and it’s a little weird and a little interp-y, but this is the first time I have ever gotten a main speaking part and a place where I get to create a character and perform a character. All the other productions I’ve been in at school have been ensemble roles or background characters, and I didn’t really get to create a character. This GI is really fun.

Q: Looking towards the future, if you could tell someone who was maybe in your shoes freshman year and they were just trying out theater in the acting sense for the first time what is some advice you would give?
A: It’s intimidating, you’re gonna look at other people and see they are better than you, but that’s just motivation for you to get to that level and learn from them. Theater is very open and very inviting and the seniors want to help the younger people, so just stick with it. You’ll get better and you’ll learn.