Natalie Hine

During her sixth grade year, Natalie Hine would only go to school three days a week. The other two weekdays she would perform shows with Theatre for Young America. While she participated in small production groups like Theater in the Park and the Coterie Theatre throughout middle school, it wasn’t until her sophomore year that she realized her calling wasn’t acting.

She worked with make-up and sound a lot that year, but when she wrote a one-act show for repertory theatre as a junior, Hine knew she wanted to go into play writing and directing.

“I love theatre in practice and conceptualizing what it’s going to look like, coming up with the stage picture and writing the story – that’s my thing,” Hine said.

As a member of the Coterie Theatre’s exclusive Young Playwright’s Roundtable program, she gained considerable experience in writing. In addition, being a student director and stage manager on several East productions, along with directing her Frequent Friday, have led her to plan on majoring in drama at Vassar College in upstate New York.

At Vassar, there is no core curriculum, so Hine will be studying only what she wants, particularly the theory of theatre. She plans on learning more about the styles and methods of theatre her first two years and becoming more thoroughly involved with productions in her second two years, while continuing writing and excelling in academics throughout college.

“[At East] I wish I would’ve focused more on theatre and less on school, because it turned out school isn’t as fulfilling,” Hine said. “I hope that at Vassar I get really, hyper-involved with the theatre program.”

Hine hopes to attain leadership roles like thespian president, a position she held at East this year, as well as producing and working on “senior shows,” productions directed by juniors and seniors. Ideally she’ll even have the chance to write and direct her own original senior show.

“Ultimately I’d like to be a college professor, I think that would interest me most,” Hine said. “I also hope to get at least one play published or produced, which as a professor, I’d have a really good opportunity. It would give me enough time to keep writing my own stuff, but also get to work with kids and exchange ideas and study what I love to do.”