Nick Barrata ’24 is a three-year Senior from New York City. He has participated in theatre for the past three years, recently performing lead roles in Little Shop of Horrors, Songs for a New World, and Hamlet. He is also co-captain of JV Lacrosse and the Ski Team. He plans to pursue theatre at Georgetown next year.
What’s your favorite thing about theatre?
My favorite thing is being able to share a great passion of mine with an audience. Being able to perform on stage is a great privilege; being proud of the work the cast of a show has done makes all the time, effort, and commitment worth it.
How has the school’s theatre program helped you develop you as an actor?
Hotchkiss theatre has developed me as an actor through its commitment to inclusion, its dedication to teaching actors, and its focus on creating a love for theatre. The department is incredibly enthusiastic about welcoming new and inexperienced actors, which I found when I took the Lower Mid theatre course and performed in Mamma Mia! during my first year at Hotchkiss. Despite my having very little experience with theatre, acting, or performing in musicals, Mr. Reed and Ms. Lawson took the time to help me embrace and love theatre.
How do you prepare for your roles?
In order to properly understand a role, one must understand the text and the character’s goals throughout the piece. It takes time, but it is crucial. For some roles, it is fairly easy to ascertain how a role should be played, but, more often than not, roles have more depth to them than we think. In the case of Hamlet, I originally characterized Polonius as a bumbling fool, merely comic relief. However, the role has much more to it: Polonius’ character must be fatherly enough so Laertes and Ophelia may mourn him after his death, contentious enough so Hamlet may denigrate and resent him, and funny enough to properly land his jokes.
What has been one of your favorite roles?
My favorite piece in which I’ve acted must be Hamlet. Not only did I love the character I played, I also felt immense pride showing the play off to audiences. The amount of work everyone put into the play, whether as actors, stage managers, or theater technicians, was truly impressive. It is an achievement I hold close to my heart.
How do you deal with stage fright?
Stage fright begins to disappear after running the piece so many times. My stage fright is never overwhelming, because everyone after the rehearsal process knows their lines, parts, songs, lyrics, etc. back to front. Stage fright starts to become a feeling of adrenaline. Performing on stage is a rush. Keeping stage fright at bay also comes from a place of trust within oneself and with the other members of the cast. If someone makes a mistake on stage, others know exactly how to carry on.
What’s your advice for younger actors?
My one piece of advice to anyone new to and interested in theatre is to just go for it. Just go and audition for that part. Black boxes are an amazing way to familiarize oneself with theatre, but, of course, certainly just go and audition for that mainstage production if it feels right. I know it sounds trite, but Hotchkiss is a place where trying new things is invaluable to a full experience, so why not try theatre! I did not think I was interested in theatre before coming to this school, but I found that it was a passion of mine. There is really nothing like being on stage.
