With the beginning of fall comes all of the concerts, theatre productions and artwork that Longwood students look forward to every year. For one young man, the theatre department has helped to make his time here at Longwood memorable from the start.
Elton Bradley is a freshmen Theatre Education major looking to minor in Music and has already gotten to experience rehearsals and tech runs in his short time at Longwood. Bradley has been cast in “A Dream Play” which will debut on Sept. 25, and is one of only a handful of freshmen to make this cast. He began acting in plays during high school and it has been an important part of his life, and one of the main reasons why he chose Theatre Education as his major.
Bradley stated, “I chose to major in Theatre Education because I enjoy performing, but couldn’t spend my entire life on the road cast in various plays,” and thus led Bradley to consider another way to continue doing what he loves.
In “A Dream Play” Bradley plays several roles, but his main role involves being a solicitor. He was also cast to be a singer/dancer, and part of the theatre people. Bradley is very excited about the upcoming performances with his
debut in the theatre department and commented, “Rehearsals are going really well and I am already off the books faster than I thought I would be.”
He is looking forward to working on a two story set, which involves the normal stage seen when watching a play and then a separate set above. Bradley added, “I am also looking forward to working with the rest of the cast and getting to know them better.”
While here at Longwood, Bradley hopes to “diversify his theatrical appearances,” as most of his experiences in high school theatre have been with comedies and a seldom drama or two.
Bradley is also hoping that through his education and classes here, he will be able to “mold the next generation” into actors and actresses and give his students an appreciation for theatre.
Bradley’s favorite play that he has been involved with is the musical “Chicago” because “it was my debut musical and I really enjoyed the character I played.” Bradley was the character Amos Hart and hopes to have the opportunity to be cast as that part again with a bigger set and a larger budget.
This will not be the last time we will see Bradley taking the stage as he wants to audition for another play entitled “Evil Dead” and he hopes he is able to be cast in a role.
