Stage lights flashing in your eyes, music carrying you through the choreography, sophomore Mila Maxon performs across the stage, surrounded by a new community of people. Taking advantage of one of Austin’s many artistic programs.
Select Ensemble (Select) is an intensive musical theatre training program for all levels of high school, hosted by Impact Arts and this is Maxon’s second year auditioning for the program. Last year she made it into the program and is hoping to go back this year to work on her singing, acting, and dancing skills, with a goal of preparing her for college auditions and pursuing a professional career in musical theatre.
“I decided to audition for Select Ensemble again this year because the program is really important to me,” Maxon said. “It’s a really great way to train yourself, it helped me improve a lot, I definitely learned a lot of new things, met a bunch of new people, and I feel like it’s what helped me get into Summer Stock this past summer.”
The audition process for Select is strenuous and competitive. Each student is required to send in a statement video about why they love musical theatre, learn and record a dance video, and submit themselves singing two contrasting musical theatre songs. Maxon is submitting “On My Own” from the musical Les Mis for her emotional song and “Anything Goes” from “Anything Goes” for her upbeat piece. And has been practicing the dance which is set to “Carrying the Banner” from “Newsies.”
“I’m really happy with how my songs turned out, and the dance is pretty hard compared to last year,” Maxon said. “But I like the challenge, even though a lot of the jumps and tricks required surprised me, it’s been a lot of fun.”
Select is a program that students can participate in while also being involved in their school’s theatre programs. Maxon did this last year and junior Preston Withrow who auditioned for Select this year is already preparing to do the same.
“I’m not too worried about balancing my time because I plan to make my time at school more relaxed for the second semester,” Withrow said. “I might take a show block off, so I can focus on select ensemble opportunities.”
Bowie does not attend any other competitions as a theatre company except for theatre UIL in the spring semester. Because of this the Starlight Theatre Company (STC) does not get to interact with other performers across Austin very often and this is one of the main reasons theatre director Marco Bazan recommends his students try out for Select.
“The program is a great opportunity for students to work with people at all different levels,” Bazan said. “It especially connects you with students and professionals all across Central Austin.”
A critical skill for young performers to learn is the ability to audition and perform under pressure. Impact Arts has created multiple programs to best prepare students across Austin for the professional world and teach them these skills. Many times leading participants to not only learn lessons in performance, but lessons in life.
“One of the most valuable things I learned from auditioning was definitely how to deal with my self-doubt,” Maxon said. “I feel like it just takes a lot out of what you can do in theatre and life. But without self-doubt, you can just be the best version of yourself.”
Maxon’s involvement in the STC and Impact Arts has her working consistently outside of school to further her experience. From taking dance classes to working privately in her own garage, Maxon is always preparing for the next audition or production.
“I do a lot in my garage and it’s become a very creative space for me,” Maxon said. “I love taking things from my dance class and making it my own, or playing around with choreographing my own pieces. Also just working on new songs or acting in my garage.”
Select starts preparing pieces in January for competitions and as April approaches the students start putting together a medley for the Heller Awards for Young Artists (HAYA). HAYA celebrates high school musical theatre across Austin and features different programs in a format modeled after the Tony Awards. This past year Select put together a medley following the theme of musical movies and put it on at HAYA 2025.
“I loved the musical movie medley, especially the parts featuring ‘Voulez-Vous’ and ‘Dancing Through Life’,” Maxon said. “But the day of the Heller Awards show everyone got freakishly sick, but we were all just in it together and we killed it. So, that will probably always be one of my favorite memories with Select.”
Maxon spent the entire year working with Select, refining her skills, and making contacts with people within the program. She then decided to audition for Impact Art’s summer musical, Summer Stock. In this program she got to perform in “Mary Poppins” and “Jesus Christ Superstar” which STC senior Aidan Schexnaydre went and watched.
“We got to see how much character and energy she was bringing,” Schexnaydre said. “She had a great stage presence which I hadn’t seen previously at Bowie.”
Impact Arts offers many programs and opportunities that offer professional training and experience. Select Ensemble and Summer Stock are only a few of these programs which Maxon has taken advantage of. These experiences have helped prepare Maxon for Bowie shows and her professional journey after high school.
“Being on stage is such a privilege and I’m really grateful to have opportunities like Select,” Maxon said. “Theatre means a lot to me because it’s so amazing that I get to work with such talented people and I get to share my emotions with people through acting. I want to make the most out of each opportunity and I encourage you to audition for Impact Arts because they have something for everyone.”
