Grooms takes center stage
BY CAROL ANN CRAIG AND EMILY BABBITT/, Freshmen.
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| GROOMS VIDEO FEATURE |
BLYTHEWOOD---Blythewood High school will be performing in High School Musical this February. With Blythewood having a strong theater department, this musical shouldn't be much of a challenge.
Eric Grooms is a junior at Blythewood High School. With Grooms being involved in the arts program he has become devoted to theater. He is still a student and has to use time management through the whole process to grow as an actor and a student.
“Around last Spring Eric audition for the Talented and Gifted class here at Blythewood. I had never heard of him or seen him before, I had no idea who he was. He just showed up the audition and had a fabulous audition,” BHS Drama teacher Sandra Dietel said.
Grooms has become very involved in the Theater department. Even as a freshman he never thought this would be something he would end up loving and have a passion for. He was also in some other blythewood shows such as “A Christmas Carol”, “Rhinoceros” and “Metamorphoses”.
“Being up in front of people and just talking to people has always been a passion of mine, I never put a lot of thought into it when I was younger but i realized that whenever I’m on a stage or a group of people it gives me an adrenaline rush like no other, but if you put me in front of one person with one person it’s terrifying and i can’t do it,” Grooms said.
With Grooms only being in T&G for a little over a year now, he does not have the full theater background that some of this other peers in the class might have above him. With Grooms being one of the main lead roles, he has to learn to face an audience and be someone he’s not.
“I am an actor, I am not a singer, I’m not a dancer, and I have to do both of them really well. And I am not there yet. I hope to be and it’s going to be a great show. But I have to stand in front of everybody and then lead them in a thing that I do not know how to do. That can be a bit embarrassing,” Grooms said.
Kendra Gandy, dance teacher here at Blythewood is also working with the play. She will be choreographing all of the dance scenes that will go on in the play. With her choreographing all of this pieces she has to work with Grooms daily to help him while having to dance and sing.
“One thing that I love about him is that even when I first show him the choreography he is like Oh my gosh what is that. He works at it. I can leave the room to go do something and come back and he will be running it. So he has the skill to pick up things and he knows himself well enough to know how much he needs to rehearse things to get them down,” Gandy said.
Dietel is the director of High school Musical and has also directed some of the other plays that Grooms has participated in. However with Grooms only being in the theater department here at Blythewood for only a little over a year, he still faces challenges while acting.
“It’s really hard to pick, Right now the most recent thing I have worked on with Eric was the Get your Head in the Game, and I have been incredibly impressed with him who isn't naturally feel comfortable as a dancer. And he is still learning to be a singer and he is really doing a good job,” Dietel said.
Grooms seems to have a large passion with theater, he loves talking in front of people and loves the involvement. But with also being a high school student he has to keep his grades up and keep up with his school work. Grooms keeps an A-B average and still takes on the roles that T&G require.
“For so long I was doing the dances and they were practicing the songs and practicing the acting. But recently I have gotten to see it put all together and that’s been really cool, because I finally get into the story and I get to see the kids do what I saw them do at auditions which seems like forever ago. And so it’s really nice to see it all come together,” Gandy said.
“I would love to do theater, for however long I can. It’s really one of those uncertain in life, either you get a part you do a play, or you don’t . I would absolutely love to do it for the rest of my life if possible,” Grooms said.
After talking with Grooms and some of the people that have worked with him, we have an idea of who he is as a person and who he is while acting.
Make sure you come out and see Eric Grooms playing the role of Troy in Blythewood’s very own “ High School Musical” February 24 and two shows on the 25th.
