By and large, most houses seem to follow a pretty standard layout: a living room, a few bedrooms, a handful of bathrooms, a kitchen, a basement, maybe an office or spare room tucked away somewhere down the hall. Rarely does the design include an in-house recording studio – but for freshman Grace Anderson, it’s just part of the blueprints she hopes will help lead her to success in the performing arts.
“I’m part of a talent development agency in Chicago, called Actors, Models, and Talent for Christ (AMTC),” Anderson said. “I auditioned for the company and made it, which was really exciting. I like to sing and act and model, and my main thing is singing. I have a keyboard, a microphone, and a guitar [in my studio].”
Anderson had always had hopes of someday performing as a film or Broadway actress, and AMTC seemed to be the perfect stepping stone to help her launch her career.
“I saw a billboard [for AMTC] on my way down to my old acting school in Indiana, where I used to live,” Anderson said. “I told one of my friends that I saw this billboard for this acting company, and he said, ‘I know somebody who works for them’ so we met up and he told me how the audition was going to go.”
After being accepted into the company, Anderson has begun her training process this year before she will begin looking for jobs and auditions in the performing world.
“There’s an online curriculum to help you with acting and singing, so it’s information about that, and how to be better in that field,” Anderson said. “You pay tuition to be in the company. You train for a year, and then after your year of training, you get signed by an agent or a talent scout, and then you start jobs.”
Though she hopes to eventually make her career in performing, Anderson still has to balance her work in AMTC with the responsibilities all high school students juggle. Between her acting curriculum, studies in her classes at DHS, and being a member of the varsity cheer team, Anderson has a very busy schedule, but she believes it is well worth all of the effort.
“It’s hard [to balance everything] because I have online schooling for [AMTC] as well,” Anderson said. “Balancing it out can be a challenge sometimes, but it’s totally worth it.”
For more information on AMTC and to learn how you can audition, check out their website at: http://www.amtcworld.com
By Rachel Reardon
