黑料社

Rachael Morris ’24 is a sophomore theatre major.

“I did color guard for about two years. I could only do it for that long because I turned my focus to theatre, and it was really hard to do both. I wish there was a world where I could have done both, because I have a lot of love for it. Especially with the rifles鈥攖hey鈥檙e my favorite. There鈥檚 just something about the gracefulness of it, but the strength that comes with it as well. It was very sad to have to leave, of course, but I just have this genuine love for theatre that I needed to focus on.听

We had a show called “Shuddersome: Tales of Poe,” which took some of Edgar Allan Poe鈥檚 poems and put a twist on them. We definitely did the scariest ones, like “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and we dressed up in this creepy Victorian garb with red ribbons. There was one part where I got to play dead鈥攖he lights would come up, and I’m hanging off the stage鈥攁nd people would freak out every single time. We took that one to the Thespian Conference in Columbus. That was really great, being able to perform outside of my hometown, Fayetteville.听 This sounds terrible, but we were truly telling the story by invoking fear in the audience. It was just really fun to see people actually react. Because, of course, that鈥檚 the goal with theatre鈥攖he audience is who you鈥檙e catering to. And my favorite thing about theatre is that if you鈥檙e doing a good job, the audience is part of the show, too. I love the idea of being able to transport someone from the real world where they might have all of this grief or terrible feelings. But for two hours, at least, they can just not think about any of that. They can be taken somewhere else. And even if it鈥檚 something fearful, it鈥檚 still comforting, the way that a scary movie is comforting.听

That was my junior year. Unfortunately, I didn鈥檛 really get to finish out my senior year, because of COVID. The last show I did in high school was “The Addams Family.”听Another sort of dark, scary show. I played Morticia鈥攊t was awesome. I really, really liked that role.听 My mom is the biggest source of inspiration for me. When she was 19, she moved to America from Brazil鈥攁lone. She worked very hard for a very long time, and it was difficult, because she was a single immigrant mother with two kids. Eventually she met my dad, moved to Georgia, and I was born. But even with all the things my mom went through, in Brazil and especially in America鈥攆inancial hardship, cultural adversity, racism鈥攕he still pushes on. She鈥檚 one of the smartest people I know, and one of the kindest.听 For me, I see that she worked so hard to get here. And so I want to give back by being the best version of myself. I need to take advantage of the better life I鈥檝e been given. And once I get established in life, wherever I am, I’m gonna give back to her. Buy her a perfect house. Because after everything she鈥檚 done, she deserves it.”