Sid Willoughby

Theatre Star

Sid Willoughby inspires with their performances

Written by Georgia Cox

Musical theater is an art that often goes underappreciated. The people putting on these productions- whether it’s the performers or the people working behind the scenes- work extremely hard to present breathtaking productions. They put in hours of practice after school, working to make sure everything is perfect. Sid Willougby is one of these people. Sid Willoughby is a performer committed to their craft. They’ve been in numerous productions, both in and out of school, and reached the top six finalists for best actress at the Blumey Awards in Charlotte for the 2021-2022 school year. Sid has been a proud thespian for a majority of their life. “I think it’s been about 6-7 years of theater but I’ve been dancing forever,” Sid said. “I started doing theater because dancing was horrible, and I sang one time time in those little school musicals they forced us to do in elementary school.” Their first role? The Tin-Man, from ‘the Wizard of Oz’, a role that inspired them to continue acting throughout middle and high school.

Sid recently played Velma Kelly in NFHS’s production of “Chicago”, alongside Cailtin O’Reilly who por-

trayed Roxie Hart and Ryan Ellis who played Billy Flynn. Their performances wowed audiences, and it’s clear that Sid has tremendous theatrical talent, to both students and teachers. “The dancing really stood out to me,” Gracie McNally (‘24), who worked backstage and created costumes for the show, said. “They have a really good singing voice, too. They brought life to the role of Velma.” “Sid was incredible,” Beth “On stage as an actor, Swann, journalism teacher, said. “I’ve seen performances on Broad-

Sid has such confi- way that have been equal to theirs. On stage as an actor, Sid dence in addition to has such confidence in addition to the talent. ” the talent, so it really makes it feel professional. I was just wowed.” Their performances in school have stood out to many people, but they don’t just limit their talents to high school theater. “Right now I’m in a production of ‘Grease’ in Rock Hill, and ‘Freaky Friday the Musical’ in Charlotte, performing at Carowinds,” Sid said. These aren’t the first productions they’ve done outside of school, and they certainly won’t be the last. Though Sid isn’t certain about the role musical theater will play in their future, it has irrefutably been an important part of their past.

Sid Willoughby performing as Velma in Nafo’s production of Chicago.