Keeping in sync with his castmates, senior Ben Akers performs in the theater program’s annual musical as audience members watch with rapt attention. Staying focused, he moves on to the next act with a smile.

Akers has participated in theater since sixth grade, when he walked into a lighting demonstration during the middle school’s extracurricular fair. He has served as an officer in the high school’s theater department since his sophomore year and has become one of the more well known  actors at CPHS. Next fall, Akers will attend Southern Methodist University, where he plans to major in acting through the school’s Bachelor of Fine Arts program, while also exploring the possibility of a second major in chemistry.

“I think it’s important to still have variety in your life,” Akers said. “I don’t want to just be around theater people, and I also don’t want to just be around science people.”

Over the years, Akers has worked on his skills as an actor while also learning how to balance friendships and leadership responsibilities within the program.

“A lot of people wound up listening to me as one of the main people in the department, even though I was really young,” Akers said. “Learning how to balance friendships with professionalism has been a huge learning experience.”

Outside of school productions, Akers participated in Summer Stock Austin, an intensive musical theater program that helped prepare him for the demands of professional theater. The experience involved months of rehearsals and performances that often stretched from morning to night.

“It trained my brain to recognize the difference between personal and professional relationships,” Akers said. “I think that experience really helped me grow.”

One of his favorite productions was Mary Poppins at Summer Stock Austin this past year, where he valued the opportunity to focus on ensemble work, improve his dancing and singing skills and build friendships with other performers. Known for his comedic timing, Akers said he naturally gravitates toward comedies and farces because they allow for flexibility and spontaneity during performances.

“With stage acting, you can switch things up sometimes,” he said. “That variation breathes life into it.”

His passion for acting was further reinforced during his audition experience at SMU, where a director helped him reinterpret one of his monologues in a completely different emotional light.

“He took my comedic monologue and turned it into something really dramatic,” Akers said. “By the end of it, I actually shed a tear.”

Although Akers hopes to pursue acting professionally, he also appreciates the practical side of technical theater and stage management, recognizing the importance of versatility within the industry. While recognized more for his participation in the acting side of the theater department, Akers has helped out in the props department, as well as assisted with the set department.

“Logistically, the better financial decision would be to go into television,” Akers said. “But with stage acting, I’d rather go into that professionally because it allows me to have more variety and I won’t feel stuck doing the same thing everyday.”

As graduation approaches, Akers hopes underclassmen understand that there is a place for everyone to belong in the school’s theater department.

“There’s always a place, always something for someone to do, and you have the individual power and opportunity because of CPHS to do that,” Akers said. “And I urge everyone who wants to take advantage of that, whether it’s through theater, choir or athletics, to know that if they really want to, there will be a place for them.”