When Wheatley senior Christina Ames was selected late last year to participate in the YoungArts Week in Miami sponsored by the National Foundation for Advancement of the Arts, she was understandably excited to be one of 150 finalists in the week-long series of performances and workshops.
But the result of spending a week among musical theater performers like herself and young artists from other disciplines all being tutored by professionals was even more than she expected it to be.
“It was a life-changing experience. It was so inspiring. I never felt so lucky to be chosen for something,” Ames said. “It was really great to see such motivated people like myself. It gave me more confidence that I can do this when I’m older.”
Ames was selected to participate in the event from a pool of applicants from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.
A climactic moment of the week came on the second evening, when Ames performed an aria from “Aida” that she had prepared for an audience in Miami’s Gussman Theater. Seated onstage with the other young performers awaiting her turn – an unaccustomed position for a musical theater performer to be in – she definitely felt the jitters when she stood center stage to sing.
“It was nerve-wracking sitting there on stage waiting to perform. You didn’t have time to prepare offstage,” she recounted. “I was very nervous but I thought it turned out well in the end.”
Ames’ performance didn’t betray any sense of anxiety. Her voice was well modulated and she conveyed the emotion of the piece admirably as she finished to a spontaneous explosion of applause. (Ames’ performance can be viewed online at www.youngarts.org.)
But the main point of the week-long experience in theater – she also prepared a monologue and danced – with an exposure to other disciplines was the coaching she received, and the supportive interaction with her peers.
“It was so interesting to talk to people from all the other disciplines. It was amazing to see so many other things,” Ames said.
A veteran of eight theater productions at Wheatley, she’ll be playing the part of Eponea in the high school’s production of “Les Miserables,” with performances scheduled for April 7 to 9.
On April 29, she’ll be fronting the Wheatley Jazz Band in a performance for senior citizens in the community.
After her experience in Miami, she said she has a renewed focus to “hone” her craft as she aims at a career in musical theater.
“It’s just really important to commit to everything you do. I think I took a lot of that home with me,” the young actor said.
And she will doubtless take that same sense of dedication to her art with her when she starts her studies at Brown University next year, with plans for a double major in theater and economics.
An AP scholar and a member of the National Honor Society, the National French Honor Society and the All-State Vocal Jazz Ensemble and the All-State Women’s Chorus, she seems well prepared for the next step in her education.
Meanwhile, she’s keeping in touch with the theater people she met in Miami on a daily basis online in a continuing coda to what was an experience few actors her age have a chance to share.
