When she took her last bow on the Mt. Hope High School stage in 2012, little did Britney Verria know that she would return a handful of years later to assume the roles of theatre teacher and director. But as she completes her second year on the Mt. Hope faculty, she can’t imagine anything different. In 2015 Britney graduated from Ithaca College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre Arts and began exploring work opportunities both near and far from Bristol. At the same time, Carol Schlink, Mt. Hope High School’s well-loved director and instructor of 15 years, was planning to leave. And as the saying goes, the rest is history. In addition to holding the teaching position part-time and taking ongoing education courses, Britney, like any other hardworking artist, waitresses two days a week at the Judge Roy Bean Saloon in Bristol. Britney can be contacted at: Britney.Verria@BWRSD.org
Since the age of 8 or 9 I was always listening to Broadway musicals. It was an obsession. I was always in shows at Kickemuit Middle School and Mt. Hope. I went to summer camps for musical theatre and film. I remember thinking during my sophomore year of college, “I don’t remember choosing to major in theatre.” It was just something I always knew I was going to do. At Ithaca I started to realize there were other things to do than acting. I like storytelling and communicating different human experiences. To do it without being on stage gave me a really cool perspective and was a very different kind of adrenaline rush.
There is always that really enthusiastic group of theatre kids who are larger than life. I see a change. I don’t remember so many boys being in theatre when I was in high school. We have a surplus of talented boys who are also sporty. Maybe it’s become more accepted for boys to be in theatre. When I was in high school, boys in theatre were pretty stigmatized and were not always treated so well. It is pretty cool to see the change.
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