Look behind the characters that are seen on the Lane stage, find who they are behind their persona’s and how they came to be the actors they are today.

  Lane  has created many artists from its diverse student population, through the drama department at Lane. Artists like Makeda Duncan, Elsie Wagner, and Maddie Scanlon. However, Lane cannot take all the credit for their experience.

  “The Sound of Music,” the most recent performance put on by the drama department at Lane, was filled with actors and actresses. Elsie Wagnar, Div. 869, has been involved in theatre since 6th grade, as she was the female lead in “The Sound of Music.”  

  After every show and every audition I’ve learned more and become a better performer,” Wagnar said.  

  Wagnar said that 6th grade was the first time she stepped onstage to perform “Alice in Wonderland.”

  “Even though I was basically the smallest part, I loved it,” she said. This first performance started the path that lead Wagnar to the Lane stage.

  Makeda Duncan, Div. 854, is also an actress that participated in “the Sound of Music” as a nun, has been involved in theatre since she was very young as well. She believes that her six years of experience with performing has helped in the long run. Her first show was “The Jungle Book.”

  “In eighth grade, I played Baloo, the second lead,” Duncan said. “I had so many lines and was really freaked out that I’d forget them. I panicked when I first hit the stage but I took a breath and knew that I was okay.”

  Then, after gaining more experience through Lane and outside theaters like, Emerald City and Second City, she said, “I usually felt super nervous on stage but now it comes really naturally to me. I think I’m better at taking on a role and embodying a character and ignoring my fears”.

  One student that has been acting for eight years and has performed in productions put on by Emerald City, Second City, 99th Street Theatre, and Provision Theatre is Maddie Scanlon, Div. 867. She has evolved her skills many places outside of the school and has brought what she has learned into the school. She played Frau Schmidt in “The Sound of Music.”

  “I think just in general taking other classes at other places gave me a confidence that I don’t think I would have had if I didn’t take them,” Scanlon said. “Lane is a huge school and it has a lot of competition, so it can be kind of nerve wracking.”

  Scanlon has taken her years of experience and gone to many different places to learn from different people. Places like school plays or musicals, acting classes at Second City.