Imagine looking out into an excited crowd while trying to remember all of your lines. This is the reality for Emmaus High School senior Julia Brown, who has starred in five productions here at EHS, including the most recent play “Little Women.”
From Nov. 2-4, 2023, Brown lit up the stage while playing one of the lead roles, Meg March, in “Little Women.” Meg March is the oldest of the four sisters that the story revolves around. Little Women follows their life struggles as they transition into womanhood and grapple with their own views of feminism in the Civil War era.
Brown was especially glad that this was chosen for her senior play because she recognized that this play applies to many different groups of people, especially women. Brown enjoyed the classic story and was elated to participate in its retelling. Her favorite scene was a monologue in the second act about jam as she found it very fun to perform. This play had an overarching meaning to Brown because it is her final one at EHS. Although she plans to take part in the spring musical, she said that the play has a smaller cast and therefore she feels they become closer as they rehearse.
Brown’s career on stage far predates her role in “Little Women”. She has been participating in theater since her days in middle school with only one brief year of hiatus during Covid. Her favorite show that she participated in was “Noises Off” in her sophomore year of high-school.
Brown draws inspiration from her dad who directed plays at Cedar Crest College.
“My dad directed a lot of shows when I was younger at Cedar Crest College. So I grew up going to those shows. And then I started doing theater in middle school, so it was kind of just a given that I was going to do it here,” Brown said.
Though she inherited a theater spark from her dad, she also feels motivated by her cast-mates. Brown and all her cast-mates spent weeks preparing for their show, and in that time they built strong bonds with one another.
Brown said, “I feel like I’ve known all of these people since elementary school. We’ve all kind of grown up together. But then there’s also people that you meet that are new and you become really close. And I think especially with the plays because it’s a smaller cast. We all get really close.”
This bond has blossomed into a unique cast tradition that happens before every show.
“We do a show circle. One of the things that we do is we hold hands and one person squeezes the other hand and passes around the circle, so it’s like, exchanging energy,” said Brown.
Despite her many years of experience, Brown still admits that she gets nervous for performances, especially on opening night. She states that she doesn’t typically look at specific people in the audience when performing to keep her focus and her nerves under control. Brown makes sure she is always prepared for performances, though. She says that repetition during practice and correlating lines with movements helps her to perform well.
Brown said, “I feel like I’ve met a lot of people through this that I wouldn’t know in other circumstances because there’s people from all different grades. So I feel I definitely know more people from this, which I’m grateful for.”
Theater has had a positive influence in her life in many ways. She has met people who she never would have known otherwise and developed new qualities such as better leadership skills.
Senior James Chen, who is close friends with Brown and has been since eighth grade, said,
“She is a really nice person. She is very caring and she makes me laugh every day.”
It’s not just her peers she impresses either. Jill Kuebler, theater teacher at EHS as well as the director and producer of the play, has worked with Brown for years in every production that she has been involved in.
“She’s dedicated, focused, mature, responsible, and hardworking.” Said Kuebler.
While Brown has definitely proved her great leadership skills and left an impact in the theater department, she also participates in other activities. Brown’s interest in the arts goes beyond stage productions. She is also in the school choir and takes voice lessons outside of school. As a senior, she has stepped into leadership positions as vice president of the theater department and secretary of the choir department. While she doesn’t plan to major in theater in college, she still wants to be involved with it in some capacity in the future.
As far as advice for those considering joining theater, Brown says, “I think you should definitely do it because it’s a really close community and I think we try to include a lot of different people.”
