The Stage Is Not Enough

She enters a room with a with a quietness that shouts "wait until you hear what I have to say." Her character is deeper than those she portrays on stage or sings about from the choir. Her world is a stage, but a stage is not enough.

Sophie Price, junior at Sidney High School, has quite a resume at her young age, having performed in theater and choir from Montana to Florida.

"Music is definitely what I love to do," she said recently.

She was recognized by the Cheyenne County School District No. 1 board of education for performing in All-Nationals choir in Orlando, Fla. To get into the All-Nationals, she had to be among the All-State selections her sophomore year. She is also planning to take part in a by- invitation only choir in Hawaii in June. Prior to that, she will be part of the singing ensemble that will perform at Carnegie Hall.

She was recently part of the one-act competition that did a rendition of "Gilligan's Island."

"It is just what I'm good at," she said.

She has also taken part in a mock trial in speech. Her theatric experience, however, isn't limited to the Sidney High School Performing Arts Center. She also travels to Montana each summer to perform 12 Broadway shows. She describes the shows as "kind of like a one-act of each show."

Some might call the experience a bucket list moment, a top-ten in experiences, for working with one of her favorite directors, Z. Randall Stroope. Stroope is compared to Eric Whitmore,  who will be the conductor of the Carnegie Hall performance.

"He's really up there. He's my favorite," she said.

She and her fellow singers are focused on Carnegie now. She said Whitaker's  compositions are notoriously complicated.

"It is going to take commitment," she said.

Price said they just started the learning process. She added music is something that takes a lot of patience to learn and understand.

Music and drama are disciplines that come naturally to Price. They are a passion, a connection to her soul maybe, but they are not her primary goal in life.

She is active in nearly anything needing a volunteer, from helping elementary students to her church programs. One of those programs woke a passion that she can't deny. Her youth group attended a conference in Kansas City where they were part of an interactive experience that put her in the role of a young girl with deeper struggles, with challenges she could only imagine living in Sidney.

"It broke me to my core," she said. "I could not stop thinking about it for a month."

She sees herself entering a career addressing social justice law or global ministries. Her passion is to help stop sex trafficking and work with refugees on an international justice mission.