The Piedmont Highlander

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The Piedmont Highlander

The Piedmont Highlander

Campbell takes the stage in 15th musical

Campbell+takes+the+stage+in+15th+musical

The lights come up and sophomore Anna Campbell takes the stage. As she belts out a melody and dances across the stage, she gets the incredible feeling of exhilaration that she has been pursuing since her first ever musical, “Alice in Wonderland,” in 2010.

Since then, Campbell has devoted countless hours to musical theater. This month, she is performing her in fifteenth show.

Musical Girl 2  courtesy of Dave weiland Campbell’s current show, “Godspell,” is playing at the Youth Musical Theater Company (YMTC) in Berkeley on Fridays and weekends through  Nov. 22. This is the second show she will have done for the company, as she was an understudy for the lead role in their musical last spring, “13.” Campbell said that she decided to audition for YMTC after seeing senior Tyler Ellis perform in “Cabaret” there last year.

“I was really impressed with the show and the professionalism of it,” Campbell said.

She will also be performing in the school musical this year, “The Sound of Music,” as Liesl Von Trapp. She said that so far she has had to miss several rehearsals because of her involvement in “Godspell,” but that director Amy Moorhead has been very accommodating.

Campbell said that she is drawn to musical theater because of her love for music, singing and performing.

“Performing is just something totally different than you get in real life,” Campbell said. “I feel like I can be a whole different person than I am in real life on stage.”

Her friend, sophomore Ko Narter, said that Campbell tells her all the time that musical theater is her life, and that it clearly affects all aspects of her life.

Another friend, sophomore Maya Guzdar, said that Campbell has a close group of friends at Piedmont, but because of all the time she spends at places like YMTC and Berkeley Playhouse, she is a part of another community of people in musical theater.Musical Girl courtesy of long lake camp for the arts

“I’m proud of Anna because she’s achieving and striving to do and be what she wants to do, and that’s really cool,” Narter said.

As for her hopes for the future, Campbell said that she would like to do something in the entertainment industry, but not necessarily in musical theater. She also has a passion for film and acting, which she said she discovered at PMS with Anne Smith’s film class.

“Maybe being a producer or a director, or just doing something behind-the-scenes, also really interests me,” Campbell said.

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