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West Linn High School’s performing arts program wrapped up its production of the 1972 musical, “Pippin,” on Friday, Nov. 10. Although this is the theater department’s first production of the year, Sofia Gomez, senior, played in her last show of her high school theater career.
2023 marks Gomez’s 14th year of performing arts. Before joining high school theater, Gomez had studied theater and acting through programs such as The Lakewood Center for the Arts, The Northwest Children’s Theater, Broadway Rose, and more. Gomez started high school theater in sophomore year as Mabel in “The Pirates of Penzance” and has been seen in last year’s production of “Matilda” as Miss Honey.
Gomez was four years old when she first fell in love with theater and decided to make it her future career path.
“My parents took me to see ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ That was my first [time watching] a high school production, and I [thought to myself], ‘I actually need to do [theater] forever,’” Gomez said.
As Gomez’s theater career continued to high school, she started taking on more serious roles in the theater department. More challenges were thrown at Gomez as she continued to grow, but she also tried to see things positively.
“I used to be really hard on myself, and there have been points in the show where my voice will crack, or I just didn’t feel great about a note.” Gomez said. “I know that I’m gonna [voice] crack on stage, and I know I might fall flat on my face. But it’s live and you gotta get up and you gotta keep going, and that’s why it’s so much fun.”
The musical “Pippin” follows the protagonist Pippin, a young prince, trying to find the significance and meaning of his life. The story is told by Gomez’s character, the leading player.
“Pippin tries all these different things and explores all these different options, and I think it reflects what theater is all about. I’m very glad [‘Pippin’] was my last show, and I really enjoyed it,” Gomez said.
Gomez wraps up her last show of “Pippin” and the last theater production of her high school years, with thoughts and emotions crossing her mind before she steps on stage.
“[Before the show] I was thinking about how grateful I was, because most of the seniors [in the cast] are kids that I had been doing theater with since middle school,” Gomez said. “It was really nostalgic to have that final moment backstage, where we’re about to go on.”
Once the final night of Pippin was over, Gomez looked towards the future of her theater career.
“I thought I was gonna be a lot more emotional than I was. But I was mostly just excited, because I know that there’s a lot more to come in the future,” Gomez said. “I was sad, but I was mostly excited, because I know that the kids [in the show] who are here now who are not seniors, they’re going to do such a great job in the program.”
