Ever since Rebekah Farris ‘19 chose to take theater as her elective in sixth grade, she was hooked. After participating in two shows that year, Farris knew it was something she wanted to do in her life. Her work paid off when she auditioned for a place in the ZACH Theatre College Bound Conservatory and was accepted.
The Conservatory is a multi-year program to help high school students with a serious desire to pursue a career in the performing arts. The program consists of four years of classes, each year devoted to a different aspect of acting. Each student is also allowed to take one semester of another elective course.
“I’m excited to be taking musical theater this spring as my elective,” said Farris, “and my parents are paying for me to be able to do an improv class in the fall per my request.”
Farris first heard of the Conservatory in eighth grade, as a member of the Junior Thespian Society. While her friends were already doing things to get ready for college, Farris felt unprepared. After Discovering more about the Conservatory, she decided to audition, thinking that she wouldn’t get in.
“I wanted to have a profession in theater and I knew the conservatory would solidify that,” said Farris. “Not to mention that at the time my parents weren’t really taking the theater thing seriously, and I needed to prove to that I could do this. Not just as a hobby, but as a career one day.”
Farris then signed up for an audition slot and found out two weeks later that she had made the cut. Farris had to wait in anticipation for the news to come, but could only check when when her mom returned from work, as the conservatory emailed her, not Farris.
“I remember that I was looking out the front door and my mom came up behind me.” said Farris. “When I turned around, she was holding her phone by my face with her email pulled up. The very first line of the email was ‘Welcome to the ZACH Theatre College Conservatory’, and after that I stopped reading and kind of just screamed.”
For Farris, the best part of her experience is yet to come.
“I’m really looking forward to the summer because every conservatory student is guaranteed a spot in one of ZACH Theatre’s three summer shows. I love the classes and the learning, but I’m just really excited to be on stage.”
