Players' Corner: Elise Mertz

This summer, the wonderful Elise Mertz stayed busy volunteering as a Student Arts Mentor and working on the Empowered Players Troupe's production of Just Another High School Play! Read on below to learn all about her amazing work this summer:

Hi! My name is Elise, and this summer was my second season with Empowered Players. Over the summer, I mentored younger students in two summer camps - All the World’s a Stage, a program where students wrote, directed, and starred in their own shows, and Willy Wonka KIDS, in which students put on a fantastic show after just a week of rehearsing. In addition, I played the stage manager in Just Another High School Play.

My favorite experience was the first few days of All the World’s a Stage, when the students that my partner Josh and I worked with crafted their play’s characters and plot. When they chose their characters, which ranged from a Martian to a merman, it looked nearly impossible to connect them to form a coherent story. Nevertheless, after a few hours of collaboration and occasional prompting questions, Josh and I watched them unfold an entirely original and easy-to-follow plot. Those early stages quickly taught me to trust the imagination and teamwork of the kids I was working with.

Throughout the summer, in my mistakes and successes, all the members of Empowered Players supported me and helped me improve as an actress and an individual. After such a positive experience with the wonderful directors and peers I worked with, I certainly plan to stay involved in Empowered Players programs both in the coming fall season and beyond.