Emma Curry: The Acting Genius

Charisa Dodd

Dr. Cryer

Composition 2

18 September 2018

Emma Curry: The Acting Genius

    The theater community is a place associated with unique people who are passionate about acting and love to create characters and bring them to life for their audience on stage. For some, acting might not have worked out but for others like Emma Curry, acting was where she found she fit in and belong amongst other people who shared the same passion as her. Emma’s youth was spent with her mother putting her in every sport possible before realizing sports were not her thing. The theater community is now where she identifies as her second home.

    Growing up, Emma always loved to hear her grandpa talk about his directing her would be doing for an upcoming play or musical. Her grandfather started as the family theater guru and eventually became the infamous director in his hometown after being a director at local colleges like Mary Mount College and Kansas State University. When Emma came along, he knew that Emma would be the perfect acting prodigy. “When I was little I remember hear my grandfather tells stories about his directing days and that always fascinated me,” Emma recalls.. Her grandfather knew this would be the gig for her after all the athletic activities her mother tried to get her to be a part of did not work out as planned. Throughout her career, her grandfather was not only an influence in her acting but also one of her biggest supporters and came to all her shows. He even went to the extent of  “writing notes during the show about what needed to be changed them giving them to me afterward.” she laughs.  For all of this, Emma is grateful to her grandfather for encouraging and inspiring her to start a career in the theater world.

    Emma’s first musicals debut was in sixth grade where she played a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz. This moment was much anticipated for her and her family. This was the first time they would be able to see Emma act and they could not wait to see someone new in the family be amongst the bright lights. The emotions ran very high for Emma on this very special night. “Waiting backstage before the show started I had a lot of energy and remember everyone talking amongst themselves,,” she says, “ I remember thinking how fun and exciting this whole experience was and always wanting to be a part of it..” Emma also realized another thing being backstage with the whole middle school cast. She was amongst people that shared the same passion as her and could understand her excitement for musicals and plays. She felt like she belonged and could be herself. “I knew that this was something I wanted to a part of for a long time.” she said talking about her theater community. Emma had many realizations that night but also a couple mishaps as well. In her first scene, she remembers running on stage and “tripping right as the stage lights hit me and skinning both my knees.” This was definitely her “most embarrassing moment in her theater career” and happened to be her first time on stage in a real musical. While that is all in the past, Emma still gives credit to this first experience in the theater community. She had many realizations that night including how much she was grateful for all the people in the cast and how inclusive everything was about the experience.

    During Emma’s involvement in the theater community, she has been in an equal number of plays and musicals. In an article written by Ben Pesner, he says that “plays stick to spoken dialogue in order to tell a story, while musicals do it with song.” In addition, many musicals have lots of dialogue in between the songs and plays might have a few songs as well. Emma likes to perform in both types of shows and does not have a favorite but recalls a couple of her favorite shows that she has been in overall. One of her favorite was a Midsummer Night’s Dream which was by William Shakespeare which portrays the events of the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens to Hippolyta, the former Queen of the Amazons (Wikipedia). Emma marks this play as one of her most memorable from her career because of the fact the it is written by Shakespeare. The most memorable part was “the sets because of how beautifully they were paint by our stage crew and the characters in the play were given the perfect parts to make it all come to life” she explains. Another of her favorites was the musical Hairspray which takes place in 1962 and is about a teenage girl who dreams of dancing on a local teenage TV program and is determined to do so (Broadway Musical Home). She remembers this one as being the most fun to work on with the cast because of all the moving parts in the musicals. “Everything was exciting to watch about the musical and we created many memories during this time.” Emma remarks. All in all, every show Emma has been in she has made more friendships and memories that she can count and still thinks of those memories often.

    Going from not being involved in much to becoming a part of a huge community that she now calls a family really changed Emma’s life. While she loved all of the shows and memories, for now she has decided to take a break from the acting scene. “I don’t see myself moving forward with acting but I will always be a part of the community.” Emma said talking about the theater community. She gives credit to the community for helping shape her and helping her realize where she fit in. Being connected with something she cares so much about is important to her and she still continues to support her theater friends even though she lives farther away now. “My roommate actually went to my old high school with me,” Emma recalls. “We even still dance and sing to different musical soundtracks and reminisce on when we were in those musicals together.” In conclusion, Emma gives many thanks to her theater community in her hometown and does not know what kind of person she would be today if it was not for the friendships and memories many then.