Listen to Layla Rupert talk about her life in the theater in the first episode of the Northwood Artist Series hosted by Staff Writers Gianna Cacciato and Revy Godehn.
Script
[Intro]
Gianna: Hi there! I’m Gianna Cacciato
Revy: and I’m Revy Godehn.
Gianna: And we’re staff writers for the Northwood Omniscient.
Revy: In this podcast, we will be interviewing Layla Rupert, actress and member of the Senior Class at Northwood, about her life in the theater.
Gianna: She is the first student we will be interviewing in the Omnsicient’s new Northwood Artist series. Northwood offers 26 arts classes, including theatre, dance, instrumental and vocal music, and the visual arts. The series will highlight some of the most talented and artistic students here at Northwood.
[Intro Music]
Revy: How long have you been acting?
Layla: I have been acting since I was in elementary school or even below. I grew up and was born and raised in Los Angeles, California so it’s a big artist city. My dad is an actor so he kind of inspired me and opened up the world to acting for me. So yeah, I started acting when I was really really young.
Gianna: Are you in any drama-related clubs at Northwood?
Layla: “I am in drama club. Last year I was the secretary of the drama club and this year I’m the president. I’ve been a part of Northwood’s Dance Ensemble for three years and I’ve been in musicals and plays and stuff like that.
Revy: What productions have you been involved in within Northwood?
Layla: At Northwood, the production’s I’ve done are High School Musical, which I played Sharpay Evans, and my Junior year, I did the Crucible as the play and I played Elizabeth Proctor, and unfortunately, we never got to perform our musical from last year which was a Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder, which I played Sibella, but Covid cancelled that, and this year, unfortunatley we can’t do any productions. For my role as Elizabeth Proctor in the Crucible, my director gave me Best Character Development for that role.
Gianna: Rupert was only a sophomore during the production of High School Musical.
Revy: Tell us about your overall experience playing Sharpay
Layla: It was honestly so much fun to play Sharpay Evans. I was not expecting to get that role as underclassmen. It felt great because I don’t know, just a wild thing, and I thought for sure an upperclassmen would get it and there was a lot of really talented people auditioning for that role. But yeah, it was just so, it was a lot of fun. I grew up watching High School Musical just like we all pretty much did and yeah it was just a blast I got to bring out my inner mean side, well I don’t mean ‘mean’ side, you know what I mean. Yeah, it was a lot of fun and it was cool to play a character that I grew up watching. And I was really honored that I got that role and a lot of other people could have played that role as well.
Revy: Have you pursued acting outside of Northwood?
Layla: “I have pursued acting outside of Northwood. My training in Los Angeles, I did training at the Acting Center and then I’ve done a few productions in New Jersey with The Work of Heart Productions. I did Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Into the Woods. And I also did some Cabaret stuff in New York City at the Triad Theater. (long pause)
Gianna: On Mar. 12, 2020, all Broadway productions came to a halt when Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, suspended all gatherings of over 500 people. How has the pandemic affected your acting or rehearsal schedule?
Layla: The pandemic has really affected my acting and my reherals too because there hasn’t really been any, you know as artists, as an actor in performing arts, it not really existent right now. Broadway is shut down, there’s no shows or anything like that, so it’s kind of hard to be an artist right now when there’s no work to be done. So, that’s kind of been sucky, but I’ve tried to do some virtual acting stuff and singing stuff to really keep me in the circle.
Revy: Are you planning to pursue acting in college or as a career?
Layla: I am planning on pursuing acting in college. I have been auditioning for a bunch of schools’ performing arts programs and acting so hopefully–I’m still waiting to hear back–but hopefully I will get in, and that’s the plan. I’d love to do this as a career. What makes me want to do it I think is just, I think I consider myself as very observant and, I don’t know, I like to see other people’s perspectives and in acting you kind of have to do that and represent others. I just feel a real drawing towards humanity, I guess, and really showcasing all different kinds of humans.
[Closing Music]
Gianna: Thanks for listening to this podcast on behalf of The Northwood Omniscient, we hope you learned something from it!
Revy: If you enjoyed, this podcast be on the lookout for more Northwood Artist Series content! Stay tuned for our next episode on Virginia Villianueva, photographer and visual artist!
[End Podcast]
