There's a print-exclusive story in today's paper about Elijah Boyles (he's on the right in the photo above), a senior at Huntington High School who's starring in his final production - The Wizard of Oz, which the school is staging this weekend.
It's great to hear about his success - Elijah's an amazingly talented performer with a fantastic singing voice - he's entertained audiences in shows with almost every community theatre group in town, including numerous shows with First Stage Theatre (including Children of Eden and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown), ARTS (Hello, Dolly) and the Pullman Players (25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), to name just a few.
It's great to hear that he's won a scholarship to continue his studies in New York!
Here's an excerpt from the story in today's Herald-Dispatch:
Huntington High School will present The Wizard of Oz this weekend in what is the final show for senior Elijah Boyles.
Boyles, who plays Scarecrow, has received a $48,000 scholarship to attend Pace University in New York City. Pace is considered among the best acting schools in the country. He aspires to someday work on Broadway.
The Huntington native has come a long way the past three years. Even his peers at Huntington High who will share the stage with him Thursday, March 10 through Sunday, March 13, regard him as a great actor and teacher. Fellow senior Tasha Blankenship, who plays Dorothy, said Boyles has risen from a tough situation and faced adversity head on.
A few years ago, Boyles said his home life fell apart. The summer before his junior year, he was about to emancipate himself after a tumultuous situation with his parents. Instead, he signed into social services and lived at the children’s shelter in Ona for about 6 weeks.
He said drama instructor Helen Freeman stepped in and would give him rides to and from Huntington High School. That’s really when he became serious about speech and debate and theatre.
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