Hot stage lights beam down on senior Brynn Thompson as she takes words on a page and turns them into a person. Thompson started acting in kindergarten and fell in love with every aspect. Every time she steps on stage, mixed emotions run through Thompson’s mind as she prepares for her best performance.

“No matter what character I am, the first time an audience sees them is always scary because you don’t know how the audience will react,” Thompson said. “This probably sounds contradictory, but I feel more vulnerable in a comedy role than I do in drama because when you choose to be a self-deprecating or humorous character you have to totally give yourself up to the audience and let them decide if you are funny or not. Bringing a new character to the stage is a very weird, vulnerable feeling, but it’s also magical.”

Between class performances and open-cast shows, Thompson has acted in 12 shows at Legacy bringing a new character to life each time. Thompson considers the stage her second home.

“Whenever I’m on stage, nothing stresses me out,” Thompson said. “I’m always like, ‘Oh my God, there’s so many things to do,’ and then whenever I’m at theater, I’m just kind of like, ‘Oh, this is peace.’ I really love theater, because it’s an outlet for me to be myself, be on stage and relax especially when you are a character.”

Mr. Jeremy Ferman works as one of the theater directors. Thompson performed for him for three years, taking multiple theater classes each year.

“Brynn is one of our most outgoing and creative theatre students,” Mr. Ferman said. “She isn’t afraid of a challenge and will always step up to assist with a project. She is very focused on her grades while also remaining dedicated to the theatre program and her friends.”

At school, Thompson serves as a theater officer, participates in the improv troupe, is a member of Thespian Honor Society, leads National Honor Society and is a member of both Key Club and Science NHS.

“I love being involved in stuff at school so much,” Thompson said. “It motivates me to come to school and work hard. I actually enjoy my days because I have something to look forward to. I think if I didn’t have anything, school would feel a lot different, and it would be a lot less positive energy.”

Theater rehearses after school every day during show season. When Thompson isn’t rehearsing for the next musical or main-stage show, she’s probably rehearsing for improv or having an officer meeting.

“My favorite part of acting is probably the improv of it,” Thompson said. “I like adding a movement and purposefulness to my thing. You kind of have to think of a reason why you’re entering the room, and that might be different for me every night.”

When on stage, Thompson thinks about the quote, “Acting is living truthfully under imaginary circumstances,” by Sanford Meisner. This helps her fully put herself in her character’s shoes and makes the character come to life for the audience.

“I do love having a written-out character and really getting to explore that person,” Thompson said. “I’ve loved so many of the characters [I’ve played]. During Curious Incident, I had a lot of people come up to me, they were like, ‘Yeah, I have had a family member who has experienced kind of the same things your character has,’ or anything like that. That’s like, the most meaningful thing.”

In “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” Thompson played Judy Boone. Judy Boone is the mother of a boy, Christopher, who performs extraordinarily in math but struggles with human interaction and everyday life.

“I also love playing flawed characters because it’s so magical,” Thompson said. “In “Curious Incident” my character was not necessarily a great person, but she was trying. It’s really cool to just get to dive into that character.”

Thompson acts in many different roles, with all sorts of different characters, and every time she fully embraces the qualities of her character.

“Two years ago, during “The Play That Goes Wrong,” I remember working a scene with Brynn that involved her dragging a chaise lounge around the stage because her character had been handcuffed to it,” Mr. Ferman said. “It was heavy and Brynn is small. Not once did she complain. She figured out how to make that thing move and she had the audience rolling in the aisles with that one! Her “Can do” attitude is probably one of her best qualities.”

The Betty Lynn Buckley Awards are known for being the Tony’s for high school in the DFW metroplex. Brynn was nominated in the Excellence in a Supporting Performance: Play category for her role as Denise in “The Play That Goes Wrong” her sophomore year. Not only did she win her award, but the whole cast and crew also received awards in the Excellence in a Play and Excellence in a Student Ensemble categories.

“It was just a very validating moment, and it made me happy,” Thompson said. “I worked really hard on “The Play That Goes Wrong”, and that was my first show at Legacy, so to have a moment where I got validated meant a lot. I was like, ‘Oh man, I am a little bit proud of myself. Maybe this is something I want to do.’”

In the production of “The Cover of Life,” Brynn played Tood, a rural wife in 1943 struggling to find her self-worth while her husband was fighting in the war. Her character’s story consisted of finding independence while supporting herself and her baby on the way, without her husband.

“I also really loved “The Cover of Life” because I felt like I really connected with my character,” Thompson said. “I realized that her baby would have been the same age as my grandma -she was pregnant- and that was just a really cool moment. I got to talk to my granny about it, and be like, ‘Hey, what was going on at that time?’ It’s just cool when you get to connect with characters like that.”

One of Brynn’s favorite parts of live theater is the audience and the connections she feels with them.

“Whenever you are in live theater, the actors’ heartbeats can sync up with the audience, and the audience’s heartbeats sync up together,” Thompson said. “That’s what I like to think about when I’m on stage, trying to feel the audience and feel like we’re all in the same moment together.”