Every morning, we push through the crowded halls. Every day, we eat lunch at our regular tables. We talk to the same people. Every step of the way, the other thousand eight-hundred-something students remain a mystery to us. In a school in which each of us may seem to be but a drop in a sea of faces, it’s deceptive to think of us as such. For we are not a body in which we are each just a duplicate of the last. Our school is filled with hidden talents, capabilities, and expertise beyond what any single one of us know. Any one person’s story is as complex as the next person’s, yet the content that defines us, our very way of life, can be as different as night and day. Everything we are lies just below the surface, barely out of eyes’ reach. It’s easy to ignore those outside of our social spheres, to pretend the rest of the school is just fluff on our path to greatness. But what kind of a society would we be if we never take a step outside of what we know? It’s worthwhile to pull aside the curtain from time to time, to hear from a new voice, walk in someone else’s shoes, and to acknowledge and celebrate each other’s stories and accomplishments. It is with this hope that I write about our classmates, those we see in the halls, those whose stories we may not have heard. There are no strangers here, only friends you haven’t met.
Meet Grace Malloy. When I first met Grace, she was bright, alert, and all smiles, despite the fact we were meeting at 7:30 on a Friday morning. I had come prepared with some questions, but she was very pleasant to talk to; our conversation flowed smoothly, and I found myself not needing to refer to my questions very often. She spoke with a passion about her ambitions and her life. As a young child, she told me, she would act out Disney movies with her family, and often went to see plays in Portland. When Grace was five, her mom suggested she audition for The Sound of Music at the Theatre in the Grove so she could be a part of a story “like the ones you watch”. In her excitement, she forgot she still needed to audition in order to accept a part in the play, but luckily her mom gladly drove young Grace to audition. She got the part of Gretl von Trapp, and thus began her love of theatre. Ever since, she’s been performing in elementary school plays and at community theatres throughout Oregon, and recently became a part of the Oregon Children’s Theatre.
Now she’s a sophomore at Forest Grove High School, and just finished performing in Billy Elliot, The Musical of Pixie Dust Productions. Barely having finished one show, she’s already on to the next, and currently, she’s starring in the worldwide premiere of Judy Moody & Stink: The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt. She was drawn to the show because she had read the entire Judy Moody series as a child, and has always loved Judy’s “spunk” and energy. Once the show debuts, she’ll be doing over 30 performances in a span of 5 weeks, which often cuts into her time at school. She has rehearsals five times a week, and admits it is a bit difficult to strike a good balance between theatre and school. Mostly, she does her homework or memorizes lines on the two-hour drive to rehearsals every night. Despite her busy schedule, she still finds time to be in Interact Club and help out with the Unified community. “I don’t really have time to be sick,” Grace laughed.
When I asked Grace what it’s like to perform, she spoke thoughtfully, “It’s magical. I don’t know another word to describe it. You get to completely be someone else, and for a while, I’m not me. It’s really exciting to get to show other people that. ” She added that it’s “empowering” to be able to make the audience feel things like joy, sadness, and even anger. “My favorite thing is the connections you can make with the people you’re on stage with. Because a lot of times when you’re coming into a show, you don’t really know anyone, and you make a lot of new friendships and by the end it’s really hard to say goodbye because you’ve become so close working with each other onstage and offstage. Theatre is like one of the most intense team sports… you have to feed off of each other and if one person is having a bad day, then it can affect the whole show.”
Grace’s aspirations as a performer are to get a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre, and then go on to be on Broadway. “I don’t know if I’ll make it,” she smiled, “but that’s what I’m working towards.” Alternatively, she hopes to double major in education, so that she could potentially teach theatre and pass on her love for performing.

Grace will star as Judy in Judy Moody & Stink: The Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt, which opened October 21st at the Newmark Theatre in Portland.