Emery Tillman ’30

Budding Actor

Emery Tillman is only in fourth grade, but he has had two opportunities this year to play a leading role on stage in the Gorelick Family Theater. First, he was Baloo in his class’s performance of The Jungle Book. His success in that role, combined with his enthusiasm for theater, led Krista Maggart, Lower School theater director, to cast Emery as Willy Wonka in the Lower School’s first extracurricular play for third and fourth graders.

While Emery has been in class plays since kindergarten, being in Willy Wonka Kids was a chance to perform alongside students in different grades and classes. Every day after school, he practiced with those students, Ms. Maggart, and Drama Assistant Katy Johns.

“Ms. Maggart encourages me, and she is always nice,” he says. “Like if I get a line wrong, she shares a story about a time she messed up. She’s funny and she tries to make us feel better.” “Mrs. Johns is very helpful and she’s the one who gets our mouths warmed up when we’re about to sing. I think Ms. Maggart and Mrs. Johns are really good at working together.”

Ms. Maggart, who is working on her graduate degree to bring social emotional learning and educational psychology into her theater curriculum, says: “Emery is truly such a light on our stage and around our campus. It is an honor to teach such inspiring students like him.”

In addition to his Lower School teachers, Emery’s love of theater has been influenced by family friend Lance Toppin ’23, who has performed in Country Day theater for many years. “Lance has been in a lot of musicals, and he has pushed me to want to be in school plays. I really look forward to seeing him in the school musicals. I like seeing how the actors express themselves and how they fit their character. It’s a lot like seeing a movie, but better!”

The hardest part about acting for Emery is memorizing his lines. His strategy is to read them over and over. He says that being on stage “feels a little scary. Then once you’re in the middle of a play, you’re like ‘I got this’ and you just keep doing it.”

This summer, Emery plans to attend theater camp and prepare for Middle School auditions. “I’m looking forward to having more practice doing my plays in Middle School, because what I’m really looking forward to is doing the high school plays. They are longer and they have more details, so you have to learn more lines.”

Emery Tillman practicing his leading role with Drama Teacher Krista Maggart.