Drama traveled to New York City for their annual trip from February 23-25.

Amaya Montgomery (’19) attended the trip for the first time this year. She is a student who is relatively new to Forge Drama, and was also the youngest on the trip to be given the opportunity to audition for both the Atlantic and New York Conservatory of Dramatic Arts (NYCDA) acting conservatories.

This trip is part of the theater curriculum because it helps the students to learn more about the craft and how it works in a professional setting. It gives them a chance to discover the city and learn if theater is really for them.

“When I left I had a better idea of what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and how much I actually love drama and acting,” Amaya said.

Students accepted into the Atlantic or NYCDA summer programs live in New York City for the summer, learning about acting, and training with professionals. Most students don’t audition until they are juniors, and out of the five who auditioned this year, Amaya was by far the youngest.

To be given this opportunity, she had to prepare weeks beforehand, preparing monologues to perform in front of the judges, making herself an acting resume, getting headshots, writing an essay for the program, and so much more.

The day of the auditions, all the girls woke up early and skipped the workshops that day to go audition for the schools. Amaya was both nervous and excited as they headed over to the schools, because for her “It was a really new experience, because I have only really ever done auditions at school for plays and stuff.”

Both the auditions seemed to be pretty straight forward. When she arrived at Atlantic she was introduced to Tyler, who helped run the program, and then waited for her time to audition.When it was time for her audition, she went into the black box theater and performed for the group. After the first round they gave her notes and made her go again so they could see how as an actress she can adapt and take notes, and then she was sent out to wait with the rest of the auditioners.

“The best part about it was how they critiqued me on things and they actually sounded genuinely interested in what I did,” Amaya said. “They gave me different things that would help me on my acting in that moment. They were trying to help me to get into the school by giving me my best chance. It’s not like they were acting against me or anything, which was really nice.”

After those auditions, they all headed to NYCDA for the second round. It was a similar process, and nerves were still high for all the girls as they went to perform. Afterward, Amaya said she enjoyed the experience, but Atlantic was by far her favorite and where she wanted to spend her summer learning.

After the trip, she was contacted about a week later to be informed that she made it into both of the schools for the summer. “Having to audition to get into an actual school was very new, and I am really happy that I actually got into both of them.”

Another benefit of Amaya being able to attend this program for the summer is that she will be able to visit some family while she’s in the city.

“I used to live in Brooklyn, New York, when I was younger; I lived there for six years, so I knew how to navigate myself through places,” Amaya said. Some of her family still lives in the city.

The trip was Amaya’s first time seeing a Broadway show. She hopes she will be able to see a few more shows while she’s in New York.

“I had never seen a show before the New York trip. It is honestly one of the greatest experiences,” Amaya said.

Amaya says that this trip changed her.

“Before going on the trip I knew that I liked music, but I think because of all the aspects of this trip, it really changed my outlook,” Amaya said. “I know that before I started I wasn’t sure I wanted to get into musical theater but after leaving and seeing what I saw and feeling what I felt I want to grow up and make people feel a heaviness like those shows made me feel. I thinks that’s a big part about it because you get to know yourself and a better part of yourself.”