Senior Sarah Perry was shocked and elated when she was honored at Theater Regionals for her skills as a performer. Exactly a month later, at the VHSL State Theater Competition in Charlottesville, she received her second award, the No. 1 Outstanding Actor in the state.
The process of determining the state’s best actor involves a holistic analysis of a performer’s craft, not just their line delivery. For the judges to determine the award-recipients the same day as they first view the show, it must require clear, incontestable talent.
“I went on stage and just had fun,” Perry said. “I wasn’t expecting anything out of it. The judges started giving our show notes and one of them singled me out. He told me he’d been judging VHSL one acts for nearly thirty years and that I was one of the most natural actors he’d ever seen on a student stage. I remember every word he said.”
While her talent as a performer has been fervently demonstrated on-stage, Perry has an extensive list of roles off-stage as president of the theater department, co-president of the songwriting club, writing and directing the one-act “Seasons,” as well as taking up other responsibilities as a student. Her show “Seasons” debuted at the Winter One-Act festival, and it followed the rise and fall of a couple’s relationship throughout an intricate year through the lens of a rom-com.
“‘Seasons’ was my way of translating what the patterns I find in all kinds of relationships mean,” Perry said. “I called it ‘Seasons’ because the play was about how relationships follow the seasons: they spring into something new, things are easy and light in the summer, everything falls apart in fall, and by winter everything dies. But the funny thing about seasons is that they repeat.”
Perry’s deep interest in writing and literature intermingles with her curiosity regarding people, and this desire to “decipher” them leads her to be not only passionate about writing, but also acting. Perry has played the role of an annoyed stage-manager, a corrupt news anchor, a mad scientist, and much more. And while she has the tendency of playing “short-tempered leaders,” Perry’s true personality shines bright both on and off stage.
“Sarah is one of the most genuine people I’ve ever had the pleasure of befriending,” junior Paul Finamore, who acted alongside Perry in “The Election,” said. “She has the most infectious smile, contagious laugh, and [the] best positive attitude that’ll make any pessimist reconsider themselves. I looked up to her when I first joined [theater], and still do! I never expected to meet an inspiration like Sarah, and I don’t ever expect to meet anyone as bubbly as her in my lifetime.”
Perry will continue her education at Stony Brook University in New York, pursuing a BFA in creative writing. She dreams of supporting herself through writing and acting and is excited for what the future will hold. And while she has been extensively awarded for her skills, Perry refuses to take anything for granted.
“Talent will only get you so far,” Perry said. “I was not born with very much natural talent. I’m really good at being loud, but that’s it. I had issues with reading out loud, so I worked at it and got better. I was a flower in my first role at Stone Bridge, and I progressed so much through hard work. If you want something, work for it.”
