KO is full of many talented students with many disparate skills, but one particularly special student excels not only in the classroom and on the field, but on the stage as well. Sophomore Maggie Eberle has been singing and performing since she was five.
“My love of music and theater really began when I did community theater productions when I was little,” she said.
Whether it is through a comedic character or an emotional ballad, Maggie loves feeling a connection with the audience. “My favorite part of acting and performing is telling the story to the audience and receiving their reaction,” she said. “Performing on stage is such a powerful form of storytelling, when I have the opportunity to perform and experience the audiences reaction, it might be the best feeling in the world.”
Maggie’s love for performing has grown with every production. Her favorite character she’s played was the Genie in “Aladdin,” a comedic character who drew the audience to her energy and charismatic presence. “I got to make the audience laugh each night, it was so rewarding,” Maggie said.
Her sister, senior Abby Eberle, said she liked Maggie’s performance of the Genie as well.“My favorite performance Maggie’s was done when she was Genie in ‘Aladdin.’ As the comedian of that production, the audience was drawn to Maggie’s energy, when she was on stage, all eyes were drawn to her,” she said.
Maggie uses every production as an opportunity to learn more about performing. “The best production I ever been in was ‘Les Miserable’ where the cast was phenomenal and I learned so much about acting and performing,” she said.
Most of the KO community knows Maggie for her role in the winter musical, “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” She played the part of Olive, a quiet and kind character who gradually gained confidence as the show went on.
Junior Nell Schwartz said she thought that as Maggie performed, she could feel the energy in the room focus on her. “Maggie did an amazing job in the musical, she was confident and played the character really well,” she said.
Abby said she feels extremely proud of her younger sister.“After Maggie’s performance in the most recent school musical, all I could think of is how proud I am to be her sister; she really shines every time she gets on stage; her preparation and hard work really paid off as she hit every note with ease, made the audience laugh, cry and root for her to win the Spelling Bee!” she said.
Although Maggie loves being on stage, she said there are times when being a performer can be difficult. “The hardest part about being a performer is auditions and taking criticism from your director or choreographer,” she said. “Sometimes the way you’re doing a scene or line isn’t right, and you need to be able to take critics and be adaptable.”
Maggie spends the majority of her time preparing for auditions and the roles she’s assigned to give the audience the best performance possible. “I tend to prepare for auditions way in advance (like months) I choose an audition song and practice constantly. I read through the show’s script and character breakdowns so I can really understand the storyline and plot,” she said.
Even though this may be time-consuming, to Maggie it doesn’t feel like work because it is what she loves to do. In the future, Maggie wants to continue to use her musical talents to inspire and affect the lives of others. “I am working towards now becoming an ASL interpreter for musical theater so when I become certified I can work with shows and perform with the cast and bring musical theater to the hard of hearing,” she said.
