Months of hard work and dedication come to an end as the curtains close — on the other side, the lights and the crowd wait to congratulate the actors and crew on their performance. For Karina Holt (11), this is an experience that has become ingrained in her life. Year after year, performance after performance, Holt works towards another closing night of another show.
Holt started her theater journey early in life. In elementary school, this meant after-school programs at Lindenwood Christian Church and joining the theater club. At a young age, she cultivated a love for singing. This eventually led to her joining School of Rock, a local music school, which she continues to attend to this day.
“Originally, I just sang, and so I did School of Rock performances,” Holt said. “And I went down to Beale Street and sang with Free Worlds sometimes … but then that somehow evolved into wanting to do theater as well, and then I switched more to that gradually.”
From there, Holt started participating in classes and intensives at different local theaters such as the Orpheum and Playhouse on the Square. From these experiences, Holt gained many of the skills she would use in the various theaters she works with, including Germantown Community Theater, New Day Children’s Theater, New Spark Performing Arts and the Kroc Center. At these theaters, Holt does two to three shows a year, practicing for multiple hours a day with little respite.
“I’m a little worried about [my schedule] this year, actually, because I’m in two [Advanced Placement] classes,” Holt said. “I was not before. I am worried about that, but you just have to try and work on things at school, specifically. And then you have to have lunch, you know, [eat] dinner early and then try and work on your homework all before you go to the play.”
Balancing school and theatre is something likely to continue for Holt as she aims to graduate with a degree related to theatre at the University of Memphis. From there, she wants to work as a substitute teacher or something related while participating in community theater in the afternoons. Holt hopes to hold onto her strong connection with the Memphis theatre community.
“There is a sense of solidarity within the theater community,” Holt said. “Connections with other actors who face the same challenges can be comforting.”
The culture around theater is important to Holt. The theater community is highly interconnected, with many of the same people performing at multiple different theaters. This familiarity allows young actors to easily make lasting connections and earn a reputation at various theaters. Through multiple productions with the same people, strong friendships can form.
“Theater is pretty tight knit even across a lot of different places,” Holt said. “So … you find some people even after starting off, then you just keep finding those [people] again and again because they’re in the same things you are.”
Not only does theater provide a community for Holt, but it also teaches practical life skills. Actors may find that memorization of lines and stage directions gets easier with time, which can translate to school in studying for tests or memorizing vocabulary. Community theatre also teaches networking and self-advocacy, as every connection can give you an edge in the next audition. Young actors like Holt find themselves feeling more confident in forming connections to get them further in theater.
“[Theater] has taught me a lot about networking as well, which I was not good at before,” Holt said. “It showed me how to be sort of casual even with people who [feel like they are at a] higher standard than you, like directors and stuff … so talking to a lot of different people, building connections with them, so that they know you when you’re doing something else.”