As the director and assistant director of Revere Players sat in their seats watching many students audition for the fall play, one freshman, Ali Schimmoeler, grasped their attention with her engagement in the scene. To succeed in theater requires a great deal of creativity, understanding and maturity. Schimmoeler has acquired a speaking role in The Crucible as Betty Paris, and is working every day to hone her techniques.
Schimmoeler has years of experience in theater. She started acting at the age of six years old as an activity to do with her friend and ended up developing a broad interest in the craft. Since then, she has participated in various musicals with the Western Reserve Playhouse and the Wadsworth Footlighters, along with multiple theater camps.
Migrating to high school bears an overwhelming amount of responsibility and hardships, and thus it is crucial to maintain a creative outlet that brings joy to an otherwise mundane day. Schimmoeler conveyed that joining Revere Players has helped with the switch, and gives her something to look forward to during the repetitive school days.
“I love going to rehearsal, and I love doing warm-ups and games with the rest of the cast. And just getting involved in the school environment is really incredible,” Schimmoeler said.
With Schimmoeler’s transition into high school, going to Players after school has been a bright spot after a long day of academics. She touched on why it’s so important for students to have a time after school to let loose and have fun.
“It gives me something to live for and something to be excited about. Especially when days seem to be long, it gives you something to just enjoy,” Schimmoeler said.
Though Schimmoeler enjoys theater, she expressed certain areas of her role that were out of her comfort zone. To create an accommodating environment for students at Players can be a challenge, and the assistant director of the Players productions explained these obstacles for Schimmoeler to get into character, especially because hers is so unlike her. Kelsey Johnson, the assistant director for the Players’ productions, recalled certain difficulties Schimmoeler faced while getting into character.
“There’s some things that her character has to do [that are] a little crazy, but she’s working really well, she takes direction well, so she’s able to keep building on it every day,” Johnson said.
Although some of what Schimmoeler’s character must do is outside of what she is used to, she has established certain tactics to get into her character. Schimmoeler takes much inspiration from her younger sister and uses the experiences she observes from her personal life at home to bring it into her character, helping her immerse herself in the scene.
“I like to think about how my younger sister reacts because my character is the same age as her, so I like to think ‘How would I see the world [from] her point of view?’ and then put it in the time period that I’m in,” Schimmoeler said.
Not only do her experiences with people similar to her character assist Schimmoeler in finding the depth in her character, the director of Players, Sarah Pine, also noticed various positives she found in Schimmoeler stemming from her dance background.
“Especially in this case—because her character has a little bit more physical work to do than other characters—it’s a real boon to her because she’s comfortable with her body. She knows how to move; she is a mover,” Pine said.
While having dance in her schedule every day may improve her performance, it is also a scheduling conflict she must deal with on top of her schoolwork. Players has made Schimmoeler’s transition into high school much more enjoyable, but there is still the obstacle of balancing it with grades and other activities.
“I go from one thing to the next, to the next, so I don’t get home until nine sometimes or later,” Schimmoeler said, adding that “it’s hard to keep up.”
Pine has also seen Schimmoeler from an academic standpoint, as she had her as a student in her seventh grade class. She remembers Schimmoeler seldom passing up the chance to participate in Readers Theater and how focused she was on her academics. She recalls Schimmoeler’s defining traits then, and notes how her characteristics have evolved since.
“You can see when she’s at rehearsal she is there to get the job done and do her work, which is really, really cool, and I think that’s something that’s just grown from seventh grade to this year. It was always part of her personSchimmoelerty but it seems to me to be kind of amplified now that she’s at the high school,” Pine said.
Schimmoeler has expressed interest in continuing with Players for the remainder of her high school career and possibly beyond. The directors both believe Schimmoeler would be very successful in theater after high school, as she has already shown such promising strengths in the craft.
When seeing Schimmoeler work on her craft, one can conclude that she is focused, determined and compliant with the directors. She has trust in her castmates and her instructors and does not hesitate to follow directions, while also taking creative liberty.
