By Sue Wambolt, Contributing Writer
Southborough – After four years of singing, dancing and acting her way through Algonquin Regional High School (ARHS), Brittany Price made her final stage appearance at the school when she received her diploma June 8. And, although the talented performer has had her final ARHS curtain call, she leaves with the greatest honor of her high school stage career – a TAMY award for best actress for her portrayal of Lola in “Damn Yankees.”
The High School Musical Theatre Awards (TAMY) are judged and granted by Mount Wachusett Community College's Theater at the Mount in Gardner and recognize exceptional accomplishments in the production and performance of musical theatre. Price received her award at a red carpet event May 18.
Needless to say, she was thrilled.
“It was crazy!” she exclaimed about the event. “I was surprised and in awe.?To me, it meant that all the work I put into the show had paid off. I felt proud of myself, like I did something to make others proud, too.”
According to Price, she has been singing ever since she could talk. Proof of her lofty aspirations, she said, lie in the home videos of her singing Mariah Carey when she was just 5 years old.
Price took voice lessons all through middle school and into high school. She also took dance classes which, she said, helped her develop stage presence and confidence.
Price's ARHS singing repertoire includes many genres.
During her freshman and sophomore years, Price sang with Concert Choir as well as the student-run, all-girl a cappella group, Ladies First. As a junior and senior, she performed with the select, all-girl choir, Camerata. She also performed with Algoncapella throughout high school. Price is a three-year member of the Tri-M Music Honor Society and was elected historian of the society for her senior year. Additionally, she is a member and the current president of Algonquin Acoustics, an open-mic style afterschool club.
In addition to her participation in ARHS singing groups, Price was cast in a number of theater performances both at the Providence Performing Arts Center (PPAC) as well as at ARHS.
She was cast in “Curtains,” “Hello, Dolly!” and “Fiddler on the Roof” at Camp Broadway, a theater camp at the PPAC. And at AHRS, she performed in “Pippin,” “The Good Doctor,” “Bye Birdie,” “Our Town,” “Damn Yankees,” and “The Apple Tree.”
For Price, theater has been a learning experience and challenged her to grow both on the stage as well as off.
“Theater forces you to be confident and it is where I developed all my confidence – not just on stage, but offstage as well,” Price said. “By playing different characters and being a part of different shows, I have actually learned a lot about myself. I love that it has brought me outside of my comfort zone – stripping in front of about 300 people as my character Lola – and forced me to be brave.”
Additionally, participating in theater has forced Price to live in the moment.
“Whenever I's on stage acting, I am fully invested in that moment and nothing else,” she said. “Theater has been a great stress relief for me, allowing me to put all my focus in one place, compared to the multi-tasking high school world I's normally in.”
Looking back on her four years of high school, Price said that “ARHS exceeded all of my high school expectations! It's truly been great.”
Price will be attending Providence College in the fall, where she hopes participate in campus theater productions.