By ANSLEY RUBINSTEIN '06

There is a quiet hush, and then, a roar of clapping as an actress in an elegant gown walks up and receives her Oscar. Although Carolyn Holding '05 has yet to walk the red carpet, her love and skill for acting has landed her roles in two plays, an impressive feat for a new junior. In the fall production of Fools she played the clueless but lovable shepherdess, and in the winter production of The Crucible she tackled the more serious role of Elizabeth Proctor. This spring Holding will light up the stage as an array of characters in Greater Tuna.

"When I was two years old, my aunt would tell me I was going to be a movie star," Holding explained. "Acting has just always been something I've done." Holding, whose favorite childhood game was dress-up, showed signs at a young age that acting would play an important role in her life. At the age of seven she attended acting camp during the summer. Throughout middle school and into her first two years of high school, Holding has accumulated a wealth of experience as an actor. She has pursued acting through drama classes, school plays, and a community theatre group in her home city of San Francisco, California. It is in the numerous musical theatre productions presented by this group that Holding recalls fond memories of a favorite role. As the devilish temptress Lola in Damn Yankees, she had the opportunity to explore the crazy side of musical theatre. Holding played an outrageous vixen who took pleasure in manipulating the characters around her. Although she usually prefers acting in a more serious drama, Holding loves the up-beat atmosphere musicals create.

When Holding is on stage she has a mission, and that mission is to entertain. As she put it, "Nothing is as satisfying as doing a good performance." To make an audience react and evoke some emotion, whether it be laughing or crying, is what Holding loves about acting. She is intrigued by the challenge of becoming another person and forcing herself to see the world from a completely different perspective, even though this may prove difficult at times. She recalled a monologue from Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra, when she found herself struggling to envision the mindset of Cleopatra. Holding sought to portray Cleopatra's complex emotions in her monologue, never having known such circumstances herself. Reaching beyond her own experiences and tapping into new emotions are crucial skills; skills she continues to develop here at Deerfield by continuing to act in all types of plays. As a member of the acting tutorial ensemble and a frequent face on the set in the Black Box, Holding has immersed herself in Deerfield's theatre program. Holding is amazed by the fact that new students can receive roles, "most other programs work by seniority, you could only get a large role if you had been in a production before, and auditions didn't really count for anything. Here it's not like that." With a director of unmatched precision and a supportive student body, the plays at Deerfield have a unique quality, that she has grown to love.

Because at this point in her life Carolyn can only dream of a career in acting, she is focusing on and enjoying her high school years. Perhaps there is a red carpet in her future, but presently she continues to dazzle many audiences on the Deerfield stage.