By Elisabeth Palacios

In McCaskey’s 2023 fall play, Robinhood or the True Tale of Marian, 10th grader Anya Eden played the role of Alana Dale, one of the leads. She decided to perform in the fall play because of her passion for performing, as well as her love for last year’s theater director. She was excited to work with the cast, happy to see what they could do with the script, and of course, she wanted to have fun performing on stage.  

She described auditioning (and, later performing) as a nerve-wracking experience, but “super exciting,” when she was cast. “[With] auditioning, I just kind of knew that I had to come in with my best attitude, show kindness to everybody who auditioned, and just do what I knew I could do best.” 

Anya had been working towards a role in this year’s play that was bigger than her role the year prior. Performing was even more enjoyable with this bigger role, even if it got a bit “scary” being in front of the audience. “I just loved finding new ways to express a character, you know, like coming up with new things every single day.” 

Her favorite part of being in the play was, ironically, when rehearsals started to get longer and everything took off as it was getting closer to opening night. Everyone was having a bit more fun with it, truly transforming into their characters.

While she enjoys being in the play, her favorite part of doing theater is being in the musical production. Aside from the fact that it is a more intense project, she feels there is so much more that can be done with music being involved—something she loves just as much. Her love for music can be seen in all the other activities she’s a part of.

Anya participates in Vocal Ensemble, Chamber Choir, Band, Orchestra, Jazz Band, and Link Crew. When play rehearsals initially started, she understandably admitted that she wasn’t managing her time too well, struggling to balance her countless extracurricular activities. However, she was able to get into the groove of things, making sure to not overwork herself while staying on track with school work. 

As of right now, Anya plans to pursue theater further once she’s out of high school. One of her big dreams is to perform at the Fulton Theater, a place where she has been more times than she can remember.

Her passion for theater and music comes from her knack for seeing the big picture, in seeing all the pieces fit together as a whole. “I would go to musicals and plays and watch them. And, you know, [I would] watch movies all the time, especially musical movies. So, just seeing how the end product of everything turned out makes me want to be a part of a process to make a big end product like that.”

The reason she is involved in so many programs around the school is simply because she’s interested in such a wide range of activities. “I like to meet every single interest at the same time. It does cause me a lot of stress…but at the same time, I like the people I meet in the programs and I really like collaborating. I love working with other people and learning new things along the way, y’know?” 

Theater has both taught her and strengthened many skills. We discussed learning good communication skills from having to communicate with directors and cast members, as well as memorization from having to remember lines and cues, and strong teamwork overall. However, she emphasized what she has learned the most, from all the activities she does, is how to pace herself. How to focus on the end goal of everything she does, as her main motivation.