Auditions for this year’s winter play, “Coming Out for Winter Break,” were held in the auditorium last week. Junior Malakai Johnson, who has been a part of the winter play for two years already, was not nervous going into his audition because he had participated in one act. 

 “I wasn’t really nervous [because] coming from VTA [I] wasn’t required to memorize the monologue. I’ve worked with Mr. Walton for two years, and in auditions he’s very calm and collected with them. If there’s a mistake he lets you do it over. So I wasn’t really nervous for this audition, in others I might be,” Johnson said. “I prepared myself by talking [to] Mr. Walton throughout the process. I’m always invested in this when he writes one of these,” Johnson said. 

Johnson’s audition strategy was to go slow and perform as well as possible.

“The mentality I had coming into this was kind of excited but also wanting to make sure that I auditioned well [and] that I do the roles that I’m thinking about justice, [rather] than doing it wrong. I also have this mentality to take it slow, it’s a process,” Johnson said. 

Freshman Azalea Twining, on the other hand, was nervous and has been for every audition she has done in high school so far. 

“I was in the one act play, so I really didn’t have much time to prepare my monologue. I made sure I read over it a few times and practiced in my room. One thing that helps me is going through the character’s objectives, like what they want from the other person in the scene,” Twining said.

  For Twining, being in the winter play is important to her because it represents LGBTQ+ populations, a group that is not commonly included in plays.

“The reason why I try out was because it is very important to have LGBTQ+ reprensentations. We don’t get that much of it so I think that this is a really great opportunity  to be involved in something that’s really important for me. I know is important to a lot of other people,” Twining said.