When A! Magazine for the Arts first met Emily Glover, she was standing in front of her forensics class at Sullivan East High School, demonstrating how to slide an Oreo cookie from her forehead into her mouth.
A junior and the award-winning co-captain of the forensics team, Emily lives in Bluff City with her parents, Shannon and Julie Glover and 8-year-old sister, Grace. Emily competes in dramatic interpretation, prose reading, duo interpretation and one-act play under the direction of Sabrina Arnold. She turned out to be a thoughtful actor who cares deeply about her art.
Here's what she told A! Magazine:
"Being in theaterhas been wonderful for me. I've found my niche. It reminds me of how important the arts are to schools and to education. Ms. Arnold told us a story yesterday. She was teaching some dances - how to do stage movement and things like that. There were these two football guys. She said, "At one point I looked up on stage, and there they were, arm in arm, dancing." She said, this is why I'm a teacher, why I teach drama, because they were having a blast - it kind of brought them out of their shell. I think that's what's so wonderful about drama. You get to express yourself, and BE yourself and sometimes be someone else and try that out. And you find out who you are through being other people and experiencing the things other people experience.
"I hope to go to college and study theater. I'm very grounded in my beliefs, and a lot of times I think that might not fit into the world of drama. But I want to use my gifts to glorify God. I think that I've been blessed with an ability, and with a passion for this art, and I hope that I can further study it without compromising those beliefs. So I'm looking into schools. I'd like to study theater, and I'd like to live in New York ? that's my dream ? but I'm just waiting for God to reveal where my true purpose really lies. I think it's possible [to combine the two] but it's so hard to see in modern culture. I think there's a lot of really bad, immoral theaterand a lot of fun, clean theater. Then there's the balance in between that could be controversial and has a message, that says something to people ? and I want to do that middle ground. I want to do theaterthat's not goody-goody kid stuff, but that's not compromising and making me do things I don't want to represent as a person or as an actor. I hope that I can use theaterto convey a message ? that's what I want in life.
"I've learned two important things from theatre. One is that drama and the arts are such an important part of education and culture, and I think more people need to be aware of that. Sometimes people take for granted the movies, the actors, and they don't see how that affects them. But they are an important influence on culture. And theaterdoes have an effect on education! You see those two boys dancing in drama class, finally okay with being different. That's a good thing that people don't need to lose.
"The other thing I've learned is about finding something you love. I found a relationship with Christ and that was the most important decision in my life so far. But I've also found that I'm good at this. I can do this! God has given me an ability to sing a little bit, and to express myself through this art. I want to use theaterto combine those two loves. And that's been something that's grown in me the past couple of years. I hope it will form into a lifestyle that I can pursue.
"My dramatic interp[retation] this year is from a biography of Fannie Crosby [blind composer of such famous hymns as Blessed Assurance]. There's so much to be learned from her life and what she wrote. I love it all! I'm using this piece because it lets me use my talents for a greater purpose, and to convey a message. And that's my hope for this year ? that I can do this. That, even in forensics, I can be who I am, unabashed."
Dottie Havlik is President of the Board of Directors of Arts Alliance Mountain Empireand chair of AAME's Arts for Youth Committee. This committee seeks for the column to be the voice of each featured young person, presented in his or her own words.
