Collin died last year, but in a funny way, on the PR stage.

Did you know that this is Collin’s 6th year acting? That’s why he’s so good at it. He enjoys comedic roles, and you probably remember him from last year’s The 39 Steps. He’s also been in the fall play, news team, choir, and PR’s hit musical A Tale of Two Cities. You can tell he’s involved in a lot of clubs at PR and the music department. Collin wrote an Original Comedy last year for Speech team and went to sectionals! His OC was filled with hilarious puns and got a lot of laughs from the school audience. Here’s an interview with Collin who’s known for making everyone laugh.

Neha: Since when have you been interested in theatre?

Collin: Well, theatre started from when around I was in fourth grade. My parents told me about a theatre camp that was going on at CLC, so I was like, that would be fun. So I tried out and find out that I really liked acting, you know they had improv and I was in the play that time. They offered a play and a musical and I really liked acting. It was a lot of fun so I decided to go back every year. Then I went to the school plays and here I am right now.

Neha: How many musicals and plays have you been in?

Collin: I would have to say at least ten-ish.

Neha: Wow. That’s a lot!

Collin: Sometimes when they hand out audition forms and they ask like so what have you done in the past, what’s your experience, and I’ll try to remember all the stuff that I’ve done over the past four years.

Neha: So 10 musicals inside school and outside of school?

Collin: In total, yes. I’ll probably say I’ve only participated in about 3 school musicals.

Neha: What’s your favorite musical and why?

Collin: I would have to say my favorite musical is Lion King just because I like the Lion King period. Also because there’s all this cool stuff going on like all the puppets, there’s all this stylistic stuff that’s going on, incorporating like culture into the musical. One day if I ever go on broadway my dream role would be being Timon on the show. I would just need to learn the accent for something like that.

Neha: Yeah, you should totally do that. So what skills did you gain from theatre?

Collin: Well, in theatre, for sure you learn how to improvise because you never know what happens on the show. I remember one time during, I think my last year at theatre camp we were doing the play and somebody forgot their line and it was like a minute of silence. I try to to jump in, and you know give a line but I didn’t know what the next line was.

Neha: Oh so you were trying to help him out.

Collin: Yeah, and another thing is the social aspect of it. You know, you learn how to be more expressive. You learn how to put across certain emotions better.

Neha: Okay. So what’s your goal for theatre and acting?

Collin: Well, I just want to do it for the rest of my life. I mean hitting big would be fine, you know just as long as I’m doing the thing I love, that’s all that matters. And if stage acting doesn’t work out then I’m kind of interested in voice acting as well, either one works for me.

Neha: Yeah, well, you are good at it!

Collin: Oh, thank you.

Neha: What type of acting roles do you prefer and why?

Collin: Comedic roles for sure, it kind of allow me to kind of go over the top with it, maybe use a voice or something like that. I’m not really a serious person in the first place. Like if something falls down in the house, I just end up laughing, without knowing what the heck happens so I’m not very good at seriousness. I love to laugh. I love to make people laugh. So comedic roles work for me usually.

Neha: Yeah. Do you have any tips for acting?

Collin: I would have to say just give it your all and listen to your directors. Don’t be afraid to take risks either. Like sometimes throw in an improv line. You can try different things. Explore your character, try to find what qualities of your personality correspond with your character the best and bring them out in your performance. If you’re big and over the top, like the genie in Aladdin, then you should bring that part of your personality in your character to make it easier to act out. Or just try to get in your character’s head and see how they work. That’s about all the tips I can give.

You can see Collin as the Spanish Gardener in All in the Timing, opening this weekend. Get ready to laugh!