BY: Olivia Crutchfield
Theatre AUM may not get a lot of praise on campus from students or faculty that are not active in the department, but Theatre AUM in the last year has been showing out, and it deserves to get some notoriety. The students that make up Theatre AUM are a huge part of the successes that are raining on the department; they deserve their time in the spotlight.
Brittany Vallely is a veteran to the stage and is no stranger to performing for hundreds of people. “Theatre is my escape from reality, because when I am acting, I get to go on an adventure. I love telling people stories and making them forget for a while that they are in a theatre. To take an audience through a journey and make them feel some kind of emotion is truly magical to me. I feel like myself when I am performing, because I am doing something that I love,” explained Vallely. Brittany Vallely has been a huge part of why Theatre AUM has had its name in the spotlight in the southeast recently. She was in the cast of Woyzeck, who was nominated last year to perform at the Kennedy Center College American Theatre Festival that was held in Americus, Georgia. She was also individually nominated for the Irene Ryan acting Award. Recently, Vallely went to the Southeastern Theatre Conference auditions, along with hundreds of others, where she was one of few who were passed on. Later this year she will go on to another round of auditions in the hopes of landing an acting job for the summer.
These accomplishments are only scraping the surface of Vallely’s success in theatre. She continues to dominate the stage and represents herself, along with AUM, with passion. Her passion for the arts is a passion has been a driving force in shaping the person that walks this earth today. “Theatre has made me the person I am today. The people I meet through theatre become like family to me, and I do not know what I’d do without those relationships. Theatre has also taught me that I can do anything if I put hard work and time in. The only way to get better at something is to continue to work and practice your craft. So, in a way, theatre helped me to start setting goals for myself.” Keep an eye out for Brittany- none of us know where life takes people, but if I had to guess, she’s got bigger stages in her future.
Follow Brittany on Instagram for behind the scenes shots on productions (and so you can say you followed her on Instagram before she was famous)- @bmvallely.
To keep up with Theatre AUM follow them on Facebook, www.facebook.com/theatreaum/, and Instagram, @theatreaum.
