Credit: Courtesy of: Jack Riera

Staring out into the audience, senior Isabella Fuentes delivers her first lines of “Hadestown,” starring as Eurydice. Fuentes has been practicing theater since elementary school and Eurydice is one of the roles she has been dreaming of; however, her goals are nowhere near fulfilled. The aspiring actress is already making plans to take her talent into the professional world.

While belting the ending song of “Hadestown,” her final musical with Wayland High School Theater Ensemble (WHSTE), tears stream down senior Isabella Fuentes’ face. In the past four years, Fuentes has dedicated time, effort and passion into both WHS and local companies’ drama programs, to improve her skills for the future. She is soon saying goodbye to her time as a high school drama student and bringing on the beginning of the theater career she has always dreamed of.

Fuentes was introduced to the art of theater in elementary school. She performed in the fifth grade play at Happy Hollow Elementary School and quickly became interested in acting. She was already in chorus throughout elementary school, but through the play and seeing her first musical, “In the Heights,” Fuentes was inspired to pursue a career in musical theater.

“‘In the Heights’ is a dream show of mine because when I saw it as a young girl, I absolutely fell in love with what the actors were doing on stage,” Fuentes said. “That show contains so much diversity in acting, which I didn’t know theater could have. It inspired me to pursue acting and really continue to have that be a part of my life.”

Drawn into the world of musical theater, Fuentes continued her chorus lessons through middle school, which later escalated into voice lessons to better control her pitch. To broaden her acting experience, she participated in the middle school musicals and joined the Weston Drama Workshop summer program.

“At Weston Drama Workshop, I got to work with high schoolers as a sixth grader,” Fuentes said. “I looked up to all of them as leaders, and when I saw them perform, it taught me how to be a better actor, work as a team and focus on myself while letting other actors shine. It inspired me to have a specific type of work ethic. Whenever I am auditioning or preparing for a role, I think of those actors that I admired as a child.”

When Fuentes was a young actress on Weston Drama Workshop, she spent a lot of time in the ensemble as a backup dancer or singer. Despite her small parts, she recalls having some of her best acting memories working as a group because of the relationships she made.

“I especially adored being in ‘Something Rotten!,’” Fuentes said. “Even though I had one line, it is to this day one of my favorite roles that I’ve done. It wasn’t about the size of my role, it was about the community; what it meant to be a part of that ensemble and putting in the work to hit every dance move on beat. Being able to connect with everyone means so much as a young performer.”

As a high schooler herself, Fuentes has played several lead roles such as Pearl in last year’s WHSTE musical “Spongebob the Musical,” and this fall she starred as Eurydice in “Hadestown.” Through her experience, she has developed her own strategy to prepare for each piece, which involves research and empathy of the character in order to convey the full story to the audience.

“First, I do a deep dive into the character by analyzing the facts and backstory,” Fuentes said. “I learn her wants, her needs, her goals. For the role I am playing now, [Eurydice], I went through the whole script to understand where she was before the show started and how she changed throughout the show.”

While a lot of effort is put into her character on her own, Fuentes finds that the most rewarding part of putting on a show is the impact she makes on others. When working on a musical or play, WHSTE members sometimes build connections with each other and with their production. Furthermore, Fuentes feels fulfillment from witnessing her supporter’s reactions to a performance.

“Seeing the emotional impact the show has on people makes me proud that I was able to display the message of it,” Fuentes said. “I really try my best to tell a story, and it feels special when it actually reaches their hearts.”

“Hadestown” was Fuentes’s last musical at WHS, so she cherished those rewarding moments while looking ahead to her future. Fuentes is preparing for the upcoming WHSTE winter play auditions on top of her auditions for college theater programs. For Fuentes, drama is not just a hobby, it’s a career that she is already pursuing as a high school senior. She is attracted to the lessons of theater from the stories that she recreates to the people who she works with along the way.

“I find so much joy in performing and being able to find new ways to show emotion by stepping into a character’s shoes,” Fuentes said. “I get to learn so much from different directors, casts and stories. I’ve already learned so much so far. I’ve grown out of my comfort zone, and I can understand and read people better because I’ve stepped into the shoes of someone else every single time I’ve performed. ”

Fuentes has been applying to multiple college theater programs, each with its own set of requirements. She has sent in audition tapes, known as prescreens, to colleges as well as met with them in person to exhibit her talent and is now waiting for callbacks.

“At my in person auditions, it is really intimidating to see other performers that are better than you and have worked longer and harder than you,” Fuentes said. “There is so much competition since many people are striving for the same character that I’m going for.”

When it comes to competition in the art world, some talented performers can lose a role to one of less experience, but more connections. Actors with famous parents, also known as “nepo babies,” are able to land leading roles due to their status, leaving dedicated artists with less work. Although the possibility of not booking any jobs scares Fuentes, she is confident in her talent and has hopes that directors will not have bias towards nepotism or other privileges.

“Any director that I’d want to work with sees raw talent before they see money or status,” Fuentes said. “Talent and confidence is what truly shows during an audition or when you’re performing in the arts. That is what the audience really cares about.”

Despite the setbacks the acting world might have and the worries they cause Fuentes, her love for theater continues to drive her to perform. She looks forward to her future with hope, wonder and excitement to continue her passion.

“I find it so beautiful and touching that I have the opportunity to do live theater because it’s not something we can cut or film like TV,” Fuentes said. “Instead, it’s something in which the audience members can really recognize the hard work that we put in. I love theater because it’s where I can express who I really am inside in so many different ways.”