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Senior Craig Alexander Cosentino of Gulliver Prep is a Silver Knight nominee in the Theater category. Cosentino volunteers for Breakthrough Miami and detailed his efforts to help young kids from under-resourced schools, the basis for his Silver Knight community service project.
“I really love the theater,” he says. “Theater displays someone’s hard times and shows how some people come out of it. Theater gives actors a chance to talk about real issues.”
He attributes the theater with helping people develop important skills.
“With theater comes confidence skills, performance skill, communications skills, interactions with each other and collaboration skills,” he says. “And research skills. I would tell the kids to research characters. They’d come back to me with the who, what, where, and when of the background of the characters. That takes it to the next level.”
Cosentino says theater helps with imagination, creativity and innovation.
After the kids learned the basics, he wanted to travel and perform for the residents at Miami Homeless shelters, but COVID restrictions kept that from happening.
All along, the kids would tell him that they didn’t want to be actors or singers. He’d counter by saying, you are building confidence—you CAN do it.
“I will teach you to make a speech confidently,” he says. “You will be able to address the class because of what you will learn.”
Cosentino helps kids in other ways as well. His website, RespectEachOther.org, addresses issues young people deal with daily from lost confidence, to better organization skills.
“I talk about drugs, about homeless,” he says. “How we can come together and respect each other
He wants kids to know there are places they can turn to when troubled. He started the blog after a friend took his own life.
“I was motivated,” he says. “I wanted to say something.”
He talks about how kids can keep an eye open to others who might be depressed, scared or apathetic.
He wrote a play, entitled, Suicide: a Second Chance, motivated by his friend’s suicide. The story is about students that lose a friend to suicide, only to get another chance to truly listen, and take action to save a friend.
“I did ask classmates to perform this play, but it was too personal and painful for them. I understand.”
Even though they couldn’t perform the play, he believes that theater allows people to deal with important and difficult issues.
“The strength and beauty of theater is that we can talk about these issues,” he says. “We’re forging these characters to show how people can get through these times.”
Cosentino began in theater in fifth grade by performing Mr. Warbucks in the play Annie.
“I was the only guy doing it,” he says. “I said, no, please.”
But then he came to realize that it was fun and a growing experience. He loves how an actor can submerge himself in a role.
“In theater, you are your character,” he says. “Some actors are shy. Over time, that breaks down.”
Aside from theater, Cosentino is a member of the National English Honor Society, the National Honor Society, the International Thespian Society, Tri-M (a music honor society), and the Music Club. He’s also president of the chorus.
He’s participated in State thespian competitions. This year he received a top honor for his theatre piece. He was reprising the piece for the State Competition in March.
Next year he’s taking his love of theater to the next level. He’ll attend Columbia University as a Drama major.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
