Young actor meets her theatre idol
Horowhenua College student’s trip of a lifetime reinforces performing passion
Horowhenua College student and aspiring young actor Amber Rollinson, 17, has returned home from a trip to the United States where she saw one of her idols perform.
Rollinson had no idea the theatre group she was with would meet Broadway star Andrew Barth Feldman and see him perform live.
“I only found out that he was performing after we had arrived,” she said.
Feldman is an American actor and singer who rose to fame with a title role in the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen in 2019 and had since appeared on screen in movies A Tourist’s Guide to Love and No Hard Feelings, opposite actress Jennifer Lawrence.
He wasn’t the only Broadway star Rollinson met as part of a small group of aspiring young performers from around New Zealand attending the Junior Theatre Festival.
They were involved in workshops, did some stage fighting, met other artists and Broadway big wigs, and attended a number of Broadway shows and explore New York, Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
The New Zealand contingent teamed up with an Australian group to win an Outstanding Performance Award against 44 other groups attending the festival. Each troupe performed a 15-minute segment of a Broadway Junior production in front panel of musical theatre experts.
Their’s was a piece from Dot and the Kangaroo Jnr and they were helped by a creative team consisting of writer Daniel Stoddart (Dot and the Kangaroo), composer Rob Rokicki (The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical), and choreographer Fernell Hogan (The Prom, Kimberly Akimbo).
Rollinson had developed a passion for theatre and performance from a young age and it has never left her. She joined Levin youth theatre group HYPE when she was 10 and since had taken stage numerous times each year with Levin Little Theatre and Levin Performing Arts Society shows.
She recently turned her hand to directing and co-directed the Adams Family Junior through HYPE and is rehearsing for a Grease show at Levin Performing Arts Society and Sister Act at Horowhenua College.
Rollinson thanked everyone who supported her by buying raffle tickets and supporting her fundraising efforts, like HYPE. Next year she hops to attend a performing arts college.
“That’s the big dream. In my head it’s not the most safe or secure option but it’s my passion and I owe it to myself to give it a try,” she said.
Auditions for the Junior Theatre Festival New Zealand are held in October each year.