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Molly Smith: A Life on Stage


“I did my first show in kindergarten. Our music class had a production, and we were required to participate in it. That was like my first encounter with theater, and especially musical theater. It wasn’t until I did Annie in fourth grade that I really knew that’s something I really loved and could see myself doing for the rest of my life.”


Molly Smith, a rising junior who attends Watauga High School, has kept her zeal for the performing arts since her very first production, with recent inspiration coming from a WHS graduate, Alice Knight.


“I’ve looked up to Alice for a long time. The first show I saw her in was when she was Snow White with Beanstalk Community theater, and that was a long, long time ago. But last year, actually getting to work with her, she kind of took me under her wing. She was like my mentor, and she has had such a big impact on my career in theater.”


“The show that has had the biggest impact on my life was Newsies that Watauga High School put on three years ago,” shares Molly. “That’s when I knew that I wanted to be a part of that theater department and that family. They were high school kids, and I knew that that was going to be me. It was the most amazing thing that I’ve ever seen.”


Since Molly began her years at WHS, she has grown in prominence in Watauga High’s theater department. Her freshman year she was chosen to play the role of Sylvia in WHS’s production of the musical All Shook Up, and so had been devastated by the sudden cancellation of the show, due to the COVID-19 outbreak.


“It was the saddest I’ve ever felt in my entire life, because I had the honor of being a lead my freshman year, and we were two weeks from opening night. The next day was supposed to be our first full run-through, with dress rehearsal and band and everything,” Molly relays. “I was done with theater. I wasn’t taking any more theater classes, I wasn’t auditioning for Playmakers, I completely cut out my plan of being a drama teacher--for almost a year.”


All Shook Up was what really brought me out of my shell. I had all the confidence, and I don’t know why I took it personally, but I felt like I’d lost my one chance of having my moment in the spotlight.”


The level of commitment that had to be present in Molly’s everyday life the year prior to the COVID-19 shutdown made the cancellation even more crushing.


“I was at school at 7 a.m. every morning and would stay until 10:30 p.m. most of the time. It’s just such a time-consuming thing. I went from being at school more than I was at home, I was going 24/7, 150% all the time, to nothing. Everything in my life stopped.”


But eventually, Molly realized that her connection to the performing arts ran too deeply for her to give it up.


“Theater’s my life. I think even if I have breaks like that, I’ll always have to come back. ”

Molly hopes to carry her love of theater with her as she finishes high school and begins her adult life.


“I want to be a high school drama teacher, and hopefully that comes with directing musicals. That’s going to be a part of my life forever. I can’t imagine my life without theater and the performing arts in it.”


As a significant member of the WHS theater department, and now a certified Playmaker, Molly hopes to convince rising freshmen to discover for themselves the freeing power of the spotlight.


“I will always advise people, even if you have no interest in performing arts at all, to take a theater class at some point. Even if you’re not interested in performing, the skills you build, like your communication skills, public speaking, team-building, being a part of an ensemble, develop great characteristics, and will really help you in life.”


Written by: Hannah Lutz

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