<em>Editor’s note: The following is a submitted article by Greene High School senior Cohen A. Root of his experience though the years with the Greene Footlights Production. </em>

It’s the fall of 2011. A small, bordering overweight 12 year old with hair that could hide a small nest of rats stumbles his way down the hall. He’s being led by his Guidance Counselor, who he’s spent an inordinate amount of time with the past few days. He’s the new kid, that one we all remember from 6th grade. Nervous, kind of doesn’t want to be there, and is trying his absolute hardest to hide it. His Counselor insists that he’s making the transition well, but for all he knew, that was just a comforting lie.

She continues to lead him down the hallway, until they make it to the chorus room. She walks in, and the small child waddles behind her. They turn into a small office, where a woman he’d never seen in his life sat. He was told prior to entering that this was Mrs. Boel, local director of the school drama club, “Footlights.” He hated every second after he accidentally told the Counselor that he was a rather good actor, and enjoyed plays. Mrs. Boel directed musicals, and he didn’t sing, nor dance. As a man, or an overweight tween, he was above singing and dancing. He wanted Opera, Drama, Acting. Not some pretty little school dance off. And, even if he tried to sing, he was tone deaf.

That boy was me.

Fast forward four years, and that boy has been asked as a confident 16 year-old to write an article on how much he loves Footlights, and how it has affected him. What the very word Footlights means to him; I am willing to say that it means family to me. I could be objective and say that Footlights is “just a drama club,” and that although it has some of the best costumes, gear, and people in the High School drama circuit for Upstate New York, it is just that – but having been in the inner workings as an actor and constant help–if not, nuisance–for almost five school years over six shows, I am proud to say that to those within it, these “subjective” aspects are what make Footlights so great.

How it enables people blossom into what they truly are, and how it helps people through hard times.