By Lauren Cullen
Staff Writer

On Wednesday November 22, Westford Academy graduate Katie Lawson came back to host a workshop for the theater department. 13 actors and actresses from WA’s theater program attended the workshop in total.
Lawson, a graduate from WA’s class of 2007, went on to Fordham Universityat Lincoln Center’s theater program. She now is a professional actress in New York City. Her most recent role was Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The workshop Lawson ran was to help students with monologues, which are speeches presented by a character to express the character’s thoughts aloud. The monologues the kids were helped with were mostly from WATA’s competition show, the Hairy Ape.
The workshop started off with Lawson leading a discussion on Constantin Stanislavski’s fundamental questions for creating your character. This led each person to question themselves on who are they, where they are, how they going to get what they want, and who they are talking to.
Lawson had each student run through their monologue a few times and helped them build upon the characters they were trying to portray.
“I believe that to really reach the meat of the text and the individual’s performance, a one on one approach is necessary,” says Lawson. “Therefore, everyone had the opportunity to work through the monologue with me coaching on the side.” Other student actors also helped by offering advice.
They also discussed creative ways to begin the monologues and practiced exercises to let their imagination “fly.”
Another topic the workshop covered was how to present oneself in an audition or interview situation.
“The workshop made me much more comfortable with the monologue I am currently working on,” said junior Leah DeTolla.
Other student actors also helped by offering advice.
“The feedback was good,” said Mr. Towers. ” We have some students preparing for conservatory auditions, which are auditions that mainly give entrance to acting schools. She has already been through this. So Katie came back to her Alma mater to share with us about them.”
“The workshop helped me so much with this specific monologue. I am so glad I went,” said DeTolla.
Lawson says she believes some the actors and actresses who attended have potential to be professional actors one day.
“Westford Academy Theatre Arts produces an extremely high caliber of theatre artists,” says Lawson. “Mr. Towers instills the importance of true dedication and passion in his students. They understand the essential fusion of natural gifts and hard work.”