Behind the curtain of her dressing room, Olivia Curry sits in front of a mirror applying makeup before heading out to a rehearsal.

Curry, 18, is a student at El Camino College pursuing her career in acting. Curry has been involved in theater for 12 years.

Curry’s parents are also immersed in theater as she has followed in their footsteps, in addition to her older sister, who is also an actress. Curry’s family enjoys singing, dancing and acting.

“Both of my parents are in the realm of theater so it was just something that I fell in love with from a very young age and haven’t left,” Curry said.

Curry has played lead roles in two shows at El Camino College, “Psycho Beach Party” and “Spring Awakening”.

Curry said her favorite theme among the two would be “Spring Awakening”, but in terms of story and originality, she chooses “Psycho Beach Party”.

El Camino College’s rehearsal and theatrical production processes are relatively close to those of an equity or professional theater company, Curry said.

Curry said the productions “teach the students professionalism, and how the whole process is very collaborative.”

Upon taking theater and acting classes at El Camino, Curry has slowly learned to step out of her comfort zone.

“There’s something about this theater group in particular that I feel very comfortable with challenging myself, which I think is very cool,” Curry said.

Curry has learned the value of bonding with cast members and how they can be relied on as a friend and support system.

“The greatest challenge I’ve faced as an actor is allowing myself to go to certain places that are really scary and hard to express. Being willing to go there and to also be watched as you, you challenge yourself in a way that is very scary but rewarding,” Curry said.

Thomas Evans, 18, is a theater student who has known Curry through acting classes at El Camino. Evans has performed “Shop Around the Corner” and “Spring Awakening” with Curry.

“Olivia is incredibly hardworking, ridiculously talented, overly committed and a legend to work with,” Evans said.

Along with Evans, Curry mentions Joseph Yanez, another member of the cast for “Spring Awakening” who encouraged her and allowed her to feel confident in her challenges as a teenage actress.

Joseph Yanez, 19, is a theater student at El Camino College who has known Curry for 7 months through “Psycho Beach Party” and “Spring Awakening”

“Olivia is a hard-working, passionate, very kind and very professional person,” Yanez said.

Curry is grateful she was able to experience a cast of actors she can be genuine and close friends with.

“It has never felt like this and it is the most amazing group of people that I’ve ever met and I will be friends with them for probably the rest of my life,” Curry said.

Curry also studies music at El Camino, where she plays guitar and piano.

Curry preserves her interest in the theater because she cherishes the sensation and thrill she feels on stage before performances.

“It can’t be fulfilled by anything else that I’ve ever experienced in my life yet. I can’t live without it. It’s just so important to me so I will probably never stop for as long as I can,” Curry said.

An unanticipated incident that influenced the direction of her career as an actress was recording self-tapes during the pandemic

“Every audition that you got, you film it, and then you send it and then usually don’t hear back, and then it’s just like, off into the abyss,” Curry said.

Curry found it difficult to accept the lack of closure, which she said is the nature of the business.

The first performance Curry performed during college was “Psycho Beach Party”, which is “a show all about originality,” Curry said.

Matthew Singletary, 44, is a part-time Fine Arts instructor at the college. He is a professional theater director who directed “Psycho Beach Party” for its spring 2022 performance.

Curry said Singletary was “helpful in allowing her to let go of what other people think and to fall forward.”

Singletary’s first show at El Camino was in 2016 and has been working at El Camino College for 6 years. The shows he’s directed at El Camino are “Psycho Beach Party”, “A Piece of My Heart”, “Almost Maine” and “Months on End”, the latter of which was performed virtually.

Singletary met Curry through “Psycho Beach Party” and describes her as a positive influence on the cast.

“She is one of those humans who naturally draw people to her, she is very diligent always on time, she always exceeded my expectations,” Singletary said.

Singletary currently teaches at a film department in Burbank but said he enjoys teaching at El Camino due to the remarkable dedication of the students.

“Every experience I had with these students taught me more about who I am as a human being,” Singletary said.

Curry plans to transfer from El Camino to a four-year university after the spring 2022 semester, and as a token of appreciation, Singletary wrote a letter of recommendation for her admission to Yale’s acting school.

For future plans, Curry plans to perform Shakespeare shows, which she said she is most passionate about performing.

“I want to do everything whether it’s theater, voiceover on camera. I love it all and I think it’s all fun in its own special way,” Curry said.

The fact that theater is live and in the present is what Curry considers the essence of performances

“Crazy things can happen that are ultimately for the best and on the fly,” Curry said.

Curry spends her free time auditioning for professional jobs “mainly voiceover and some on-camera stuff.”

Curry is a Screen Actors Guild member and works with the CESD talent agency.

“My job is auditioning basically, and I get almost daily auditions that I record in my booth at home and I submit those. Every once in a while I will book one,” Curry said.

Curry encourages people who have a passion for auditioning to take on theater, she said theater would be the perfect job.

“The process is very spontaneous and you don’t quite know what will happen, so as long as you’re having fun, you’re exactly where you need to be,” Curry said.