- Julianne Lang
- The Galloway School, senior
Julianne Lang long has had her heart set on theater. Ever since kindergarten, she has loved performing.
In high school, she devoted herself to performing at Galloway, where she recently played one of her favorite roles, Prospero, the lead in Shakespeare’s Tempest.
“It was the most challenging role I had ever done, being my first Shakespeare show, and playing a guy…it was a long process, but I felt like all of my hard work really paid off,” Julianne said.
Another of Julianne’s favorite parts came in a comedy about two robots who fall in love. “I love comedy. It’s just fun – there’s something really wonderful about making people laugh,” said Julianne, who was also involved in a improvisational comedy troupe for four years.
But theater is not the only activity in Julianne’s life. At one point, Julianne thought she wanted to be a lawyer, prompting her to join the mock trial team. “I originally got involved to be a witness, because it’s a way of performing and working on public speaking skills,” said Julianne.
Eventually, she became an attorney and won an Outstanding Attorney Award at the regional mock trial competition the next two years.
Julianne, who “absolutely loves musical theater,” enjoys singing. A member of Galloway’s chorus since freshman year, she’s taken voice lessons for five years and made all-state chorus for the past three years.
Her interest in community service is demonstrated in her organization of two Breast Cancer Awareness walks with her best friend, collectively raising $6,000 for the cause.
To top it off, Julianne serves as Galloway’s Student Body President, after being a member of Student Government (SGA) since freshmen year.
Her ability to succeed in so many areas is unsurprising to her SGA advisor and history teacher, Felicia McCrary.
“Julianne is not afraid of failure, and, because of that, she is bolder and sees things from such a unique perspective,” McCrary said. “There is joy in everything she does. I have been entertained by her abilities on the stage, inspired by her commitment to service, intrigued by her perspective as a student, impressed with her academic and artistic gifts, amused by her sense of humor, engaged by her storytelling gifts, and overwhelmed that a student so wonderful has been in my life for four years.”
Julianne claims that while it might seem counterintuitive, “the fact that I have such a busy schedule helps me be more productive,” and her devotion to Galloway shines through – enough that wearing the school’s stinky mascot costume hasn’t bothered her for the past four years.
While Julianne’s life is filled to the brim, her passion for theater still emerges. “If I could, I would live eight million lives to do everything,” she said. The solution to her endless interests is theater, where “you get the chance to live so many lives, dabble in everything, by playing characters.”
Julianne used her summers to explore performance, first participating in a program at the renowned North Carolina School of the Arts, and the following summer, at the Cherubs program at Northwestern, a five-week theater intensive.
“We would wake up at 6 a.m. and stay up to 10:30 p.m. doing everything,” said Julianne. “While I’ve always been pretty sure that theater is what I want to get into, the hard work that went into everything we did really solidified in my mind that this is exactly what I want to be doing.”
What she loves most about theater is the family atmosphere it fosters. “It’s the community that happens in every show – whether you’re Hamlet or the guy helping with quick changes, you’re all working together…it’s about creating a story together,” said Julianne.
What’s Next:
Julianne plans on pursuing theater at Northwestern University.
Elizabeth Wilkes, a senior at North Springs Charter High, prepared this article.