Junior Jenna Barakat spends her time outside of school in productions run by various theater companies such as COCA and STAGES St. Louis. While she mostly performs in musicals, she also performs in plays depending on what company she’s working with.

“The quality of shows varies a lot. Some of them we don’t really have a stage or anything,” she said. “I’ve also done productions where we’ve gone on a professional stage and we have professional crew and professional set designers.”

For the last few months, Barakat has also been working as an assistant at STAGES’ “Access the Arts” program, to help teach theater to kids with disabilities. She helps teach them dances and encourages them to perform with her.

“It’s just ‘be there and help out’,” she said.

Additionally, Barakat was a part of the Lafayette Theater Company but because of her school workload, she decided to quit, as she no longer had enough time to commit fully. Although she said it’s upsetting to be less involved with the school community, she is alright with this decision because she doesn’t want to take away from other students’ experiences by not showing up.

However, Barakat has found a new community with the students she helps teach at STAGES.

“We all sing karaoke at the end [and] sometimes during rehearsal for the last hour. They sing whatever song they want instead of working on stuff, which is great and just seeing how happy it makes people, it’s a joyful thing,” Barakat said.