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At the end-of-the-year underclassman awards, Miami Palmetto High School rising senior Olivia Greenwald won the Outstanding Junior Drama Student Award. She also won Outstanding Freshman Drama Student and Outstanding Sophomore Drama Student awards.
Her commitment to acting encompasses not only productions at Palmetto but working at the Temple Beth Am’s Performing Arts Camp. She started working there as a Counselor in Training and is now a counselor and musical director.
“I was musical director for Frozen Jr. and Mary Poppins Jr., and we did Lion King in 2019,” she says.
She’s worked with children from kindergarten through fifth grade.
In addition to working at the Performing Arts Camp, she’s also participated in Temple Beth Am’s Community Theater.
“I’ve been in three productions. And I was Wendy last year in Peter Pan,” she says.
At school, she’s been in three productions since she just completed her junior year. She’s happy to be performing in the re-modeled auditorium.
“It’s super nice,” she says. “And now that COVID is over, we have all our ceremonies and performances there. Now we don’t have to do performances outside anymore.”
At Palmetto, she was Vivienne in Legally Blonde: The Musical in 2023. She was Catherine of Aragon in Six: The Musical.
“It’s really amazing. It’s about the six wives of Henry the Eighth. It tells the story – remodeled but more of a pop story,” she says. “The lighting was amazing, and everyone said it was a rock concert.”
The other musical was Spelling Bee: The Musical. This time she worked backstage.
“I helped to interview people prior to the show start. I helped the cast get their hair and make-up ready. I made sure everyone was being respectful in the audience,” she says. “If the audiences happen to be small, we cheer extra loud so our castmates have support.”
She started in drama in middle school.
“I love to sing. My middle school didn’t have a chorus. So, I thought why not drama,” she says.
Greenwald will be president of the Thespians Honor Society her senior year. She’s also secretary of the Impawv Club (named for the Panthers mascot).
Her plan for Thespians is to get more students involved.
“That starts with the club fair,” she says.
She wants potential members to see that Thespians is more than a club.
“We are a family. People that I didn’t talk to my freshman year are like my brothers and sisters,” she says.
She’ll make sure they know that they don’t have to be in the drama class to be in Thespians.
“You can join at the beginning of the year,” she says. “By attending events and showing support, you can be an active member of the Thespian Honor Society.”
Members of Thespians go to competitions. At the most recent, Greenwald’s duet received a Top Honors, which means it was the best of the competition. She and her duet partner went on to the state competition where they earned a superior.
Although most of her time is devoted to Thespians, she also makes time to be a member of the National Honor Society
This past spring term, she was historian for the local BBYO chapter.
Her volunteer work includes Camp Jenny, a program run by Jewish teens for underprivileged children in Atlanta. Camp Jenny is held at Camp Coleman outside Atlanta.
A friend who attends Camp Coleman invited Greenwald to participate.
“I am not a sleep away camp kid and got the new experience with the kids,” she says. “It was really fun.”
Greenwald says she’s likely to stay in the state for college. She is considering business or marketing as her major.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
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