This year, Aliyah Bilu has become our school’s Thespians club president as well as the director for our fall play, “Peter and the Starcatcher.” This will be her first year leading and directing the program. Bilu first joined during her freshman year, where she had the dreams of hopefully becoming the president and director one day. She has been dedicated to her goal ever since.

Being the president and director for anything is a lot of work. For Bilu, the two roles present different responsibilities. “As president, I oversee our competitions, which are happening in mid-November, and our committees, which represent the technological aspect of our shows including stage management, marketing, and set construction,” Bilu said. “As director, I am in charge of blocking each scene, which means that I place each character on stage and explain where each student should be as well as helping guide students through character choices to elevate the end product of our shows in December.”

This isn’t Bilu’s first time being in the world of acting and theater. Her first time in theater was over eight years ago, in a “Summer Camp the Musical” production. That number has since grown, and now she has been a part of 20 productions in total. Bilu has had different roles and engagement in each production. “While I’ve mostly done acting, I have choreographed three shows and stage managed two shows,” Bilu said. The upcoming “Peter and the Starcatcher” production will be her first time directing, but she is not worried because of the support of her peers, past directors, and club sponsor, Gregory Banaska.

Bilu has always had the dream of becoming the president and director of our Thespians club since she first joined. Since then, she has participated in every single state district competition, as well as performing in every production done by the club. Bilu also became the committee head of marketing and historian during her journey. “As each year went by, I aimed a little higher and eventually became president, which is why I value goal-setting and commitment,” Bilu said. Another person responsible for helping Bilu achieve her goal is her mentor, guide, and friend, Heather Schmulian, the current choreographer for the program. She has taught Bilu many things including how to help her step out of her comfort zone and how to succeed moving forward.

Bilu thinks being the president and director has positively affected her. “I think that being president and director has changed me as a leader because I have always been a people pleaser, and I love connecting with all of my peers, but these jobs have taught me to be more assertive and delegate jobs so everyone has a part in the running of our club and there isn’t one person with a majority of the work,” she said. The club runs as a team and Bilu and her group hope to have fun while accomplishing great things.

Now that Bilu is president and director, she has new goals set in her mind for each of her roles. “As president, I hope to communicate properly with everyone I work with and get people interested in the art of theater. As director, I hope to make a welcoming environment for all students as well as teach students new skills,” she said. She wants to create a collaborative environment so students can share new ideas, feelings, and their thoughts which will lead to great things being achieved.