By Andres Osuna ‘22
Freshman Brady Oakleaf walks up the hall to meet me, sandwich and Gatorade in hand. He walks up to me and he greets me with a handshake. We find a bench and he meticulously sets down his Gatorade and sandwich next to him, a clear indication of what matches his personality. He seems to be a very collected person, very careful in everything he does. The perfect person to be involved in a theater production. He talks with a great calmness, taking his time to carefully answer every question. He seems to especially take his time thinking what his biggest struggle is.
“For me personally, it would be stage fright,” he says. “So, and for me personally, it’s really added upon definitely cause I have kind of like a social anxiety in a way, so no matter how many times I practice getting up in front of an audience, I still have the thought of saying, oh if I mess up I could embarrass myself and all these people would see it, so for me personally it’s the challenge to overcome that stage fright that is probably the most challenging thing in theater.”
He may have that fear, but he exudes more confidence than he gives himself credit for. He has a certain sureness in his words that most people don’t have and never will have. He makes sure to explain every answer he gives me, whether it be about what separates Eurydice from other plays, or just his overall experience working on the play.
Eurydice itself is vastly different from what you would expect. According to the website Samuel French, Eurydice only contains a cast size of seven people and focuses in on Eurydice rather than the more common character, Orpheus.
“Well, definitely what differs Eurydice from like Sister Act being such a big production is that Sister Act takes an immense amount of choreography and time to put together,” Brady says. “Whereas Eurydice, directors and other actors have a lot more time to focus on individual and really bring out characters whereas in a bigger production, they would not have the time to do so, so it’s a lot more personalized.”
That factor of personalization, according to Brady, truly does help one get accustomed to the character and really get comfortable in the performance of the character. He mentions that it seems that having that one on one time does really help develop the character and help bring out the best in one’s performance and overall the best potential for the character.
He never loses that confidence that he initially had. He moves through his answers about working with the technical crew and other actors and tells all about his overall experience in performing in the play. He mentions that he really enjoys working with the people there and all that the experience has provided him.
Brady Oakleaf seems to be one of those people that has the talent and poise to really have the courage to stand up and face people. He has the ability to truly stand up, project his voice, and not be terrified of what is in front of him. And that makes him the perfect person to be involved in theater and the new play.
Eurydice opens on Friday, March 8th, with showtimes on March 8th and 9th at 7 pm, and a matinee performance on March 10th at 2 pm. Get tickets at www.regisjesuit.com/boxoffice.