The SCT Impact – Stanley
Since 2004, SCT has provided performing arts education and opportunities to
Savannah’s youth. Now in our 13th season, we are beginning to see the long-term results of growing up in an environment that aims to inspire, educate, and entertain; something we like to call the SCT Impact. This series will include words from SCT Alumni who feel that their time spent within our walls has had a positive, tangible influence on their lives, both on and off the stage.
There is no one more fitting to launch this series than the amazing Stanley Simons. Stanley first came to us under the impression that he was auditioning for a Shakespearian tragedy, only to find out that he had the wrong date and tried out for another show instead. Too polite to leave in the middle of something, Stanley stayed, and found himself fitted for a bright pink pig-suit, complete with curly tail. (We’ve scoured the world for pictures, but he seems to have done a great job of destroying all evidence of this first amazing costume.) Over the years, Stanley became an invaluable member of SCT, performing on stage countless times, and working constantly behind the scenes. Now a small business owner, Stanley agreed to share a bit of his story, in hopes that it will encourage others to make bold choices!
“I remember walking into the doors of SCT. I was about to audition for Romeo and Juliet (excited and nervous). I was wrong. The audition was actually for Charlotte’s Web. Nevertheless, I put on my big boy pants, auditioned, and got a part. However, it wasn’t just another play for me.
This play, unlike all the others, was at a community theatre. It was a real show. A show where you met a new director for the first time; that director puts a book in your hand filled with beautiful words written by someone else; that director wants you to make a bold choice at a particular time to explain why you decided to use those beautiful words; that director wants you to explain why your body had to move to a place underneath the lights where it was marked weeks ago.
Eleven years later a bold choice continues to move me. Past community theatre. Past student films. Past short films. Past state lines to New York City. Past the front doors at a performing arts conservatory. Past the president of that conservatory as I reach for my degree. Past the long lines to the next audition. All a bold choice. The greatest thing I learned at SCT is that choices can take you anywhere. Bold choices will take you where you’re suppose to be.“
