As a junior at West Bloomfield High School, Matthew Weiss, a theatrical star, has much experience in the art of drama, balanced with his everyday school work and life.
Having taken two years of drama class so far, Weiss has now joined drama 3, being a relatively new class offered by the high school. However, the year before had caused major problems for him following outside matters that contaminated his originally planned schedule.
“Like, last year I was absent for a couple months straight, so I had to make up a lot of work” stated Weiss about his prolonged absence from school the year prior. This, as well as the new challenges that sophomore year held in store made it “difficult catching up (on work),” yet to him, it was just “the usual stuff” that many other high schoolers also faced.
However, amongst his worries and stress laid Weiss’ love for theater, remaining a constant throughout all of his years at high school thus far.
Weiss claims to “participate in all the theater shows”, as well as dabble in “ITS”, overseeing all things drama related. His love for this field of art is fairly evident by his recent role in Clue, a play hosted by the West Bloomfield Theatre class.
In this play, Matthew took over the role of Mr. Green, an undercover agent pretending to be a shady businessman in cahoots with some mysterious people. He, as well as his fellow actors poured their hearts out into their performance, providing audiences with a swarm of entertainment and joy. However, acting aside, it was the process of preparing for the play that took much time and effort to accomplish.
“It did take some after school time memorizing other peoples’ lines so I’d know where to come in,” Weiss stated on the matter, “but it ended up going pretty well”.
He claimed that he was able to take in his role as well as the lines that came with it through the countless rehearsals he and his fellow actors underwent. Seen by the sales of the play, the hard work put in by the cumbersome cast paid off, selling out most of their tickets for all shows hosted that week.
However, this talent and expertise from Weiss didn’t come out of nowhere, consisting of skills honed throughout the performer’s entire education at high school so far. Ryan Sparago was in the Drama 1 class with Weiss when he was just a Freshman. Sparago had seen Weiss perform in one of his first ever plays, being that of Radium Girls, hosted by West Bloomfield High School. He claims that Weiss was “very charismatic and very into his role”, and that he “had a knack for this sort of thing” ever since the beginning of his time with the theater.
Such beliefs were backed up by Zoe Lopez, a senior from West Bloomfield high school, who is currently participating in Drama 3 with Weiss. Despite claiming him to be “awkward, but kind,” Lopez also believed that he had performed with much spirit and passion throughout all of his plays so far.
Getting ready for the second half of junior year, and subsequently senior year to boot, Weiss still has many challenges to face and hurdles to overcome. Nevertheless, with the support of his friends, and the love of his family who he’s “very glad to have,” Weiss is sure to reach new heights, whether that be in his acting career or an unforeseen path that he has yet to discover; only time will tell as the star shines before that of a new dawn.
