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Eliza Larson

Eliza Larson currently resides in Seattle, WA where she works as an Admissions Counselor at Cornish College of the Arts. Guiding prospective students through the daunting process of applying to college, she assists in helping them take their fledgling steps as adults into a brand new world.

She has also been a recital scheduler at the Clarice Smith Center at the University of Maryland , coordinating the 120 recitals per semester for the UMD School of Music Students. This position helped her to develop fluency in the background setting and logistics of arts management and events scheduling.

Since 1994 she has been dancing across the country, from Columbus Ohio, to Maryland, and all the way to Seattle, where she currently is studying at the Velocity Dance Center. She graduated from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, with a BA in dance and English.

Eliza participated in Rebel during the summers after her sixth and 7th grade years, a period she describes as "the amazingly awkward years of early adolescence." Her favorite Shakespeare play that she performed in was "Hamlet," and it gave her an edge over other kids academically back home in Ohio when she returned to school.

"After studying Shakespeare for two summers, I was shocked to arrive in my 9th grade honors English class and find that I was the ONLY person who understood Shakespeare," Eliza tells us. She did several monologues for class and her teacher was so impressed that she was able to pronounce the words, and comprehend and appreciate the complexity of the language and emotion held therein. Her teacher continued to use the monologues for a few years after Eliza had moved on, to show the other students as an example of what could be done with Shakespeare in the ninth grade.

When asked how Rebel Shakespeare has impacted her live, Eliza says "my time at Rebel was incredibly influential, though I'm starting to realize it more now than I did a few years ago. Rebel was the first experience in my life where I was completely surrounded by goofy, intelligent, theatrical, and artistic people. I was encouraged to be creative in a way that school had squashed. I was given a chance to talk about otherworldly things, use different senses, and encouraged to explore different outlets of creativity."

As the girl from Ohio who didn't know anyone else, Eliza says she was welcomed and included without hesitation. "I'm not sure if there was a life lesson in that, but it probably helped to make me more outgoing in reaching out to new people.

"Honestly, the most important thing I took from Rebel was a love of English, especially Shakespeare. I ended up in AP English all throughout High School and went on to be a English major."

Eliza's favorite Rebel memory goes back to when she was in "A Winter's Tale."

"Keri bought trinkets related to each character. She hid them around Fort Sewall and had us go on a treasure hunt. My trinket was a crystal with sand in a small pouch. I still keep it in my jewelry box."

 

 

Photo courtesy of Leo Chen Photography.