While delivering a monologue at her college theater audition for Shenandoah University in Virginia, Camilla Calderon was moved to tears. For a moment, she became a girl in group therapy dealing with what it meant to be adopted and feel no connection to her mother. She dug into the words written by playwright Amy Beth Arkawy in “Rage Amongst Yourselves.” 
 
Then Calderon was asked to read it again, and change the way in which she presented the lines. Eventually she reached a place within herself that she never thought possible. She walked out of the room transformed, and later when she received her acceptance letter, she was over the moon.
 
“I felt a strong connection with everyone I met there,” says Calderon, a Tallahassee  2018 Best and Brightest Award recipient who is wrapping up her final season with the Young Actors Theatre this June in their production of “Pippin.”
 
Though she’s taken the stage in numerous musical theater productions, the ambitious 18-year-old will move full steam ahead as a student actress, trading in song and dance for dramatic and comedic plays while enrolled at the Shenandoah Conservatory.

Born in Columbia, Calderon believes her lively family instilled in her a penchant for theatrics as her parents always encouraged her to be her own person. When she was old enough to talk and walk, her abundance of energy landed her in theater classes. She was one of 20 Annies in a kindergarten production of “Annie,” and officially joined YAT’s student company in seventh grade. 
 
She recalls sitting in the audience at YAT’s production of “Thoroughly Modern Millie” as a fourth-grader, spellbound by the rapid-fire tap numbers. She had never seen anything like it, and resolved to choose theater as her path, as she enthusiastically greeted the cast after the show. 
 
“I thought all those teenagers at the time were superstars that had come to YAT to show me a Broadway production,” laughs Calderon. 
 
She says her time spent at YAT has given her an incredible amount of resilience as she’s explored and identified her strengths and weaknesses year after year. She’s discovered how much she enjoys physical and stage comedy, and looks up to stand-up comics like John Mulaney for inspiration. However, she admits that sometimes her “director’s brain” gets in the way of allowing others to call the shots in rehearsals. 
 
Helping along this journey has been YAT Artistic Director and mentor Robert Stuart, who she credits for shaping her sense of humor. She’s grateful for the guidance of Executive Director Tina Williams, who she likens to the matriarch of the familial environment at YAT. Every audition process within the company has been a vital to bolstering her self-esteem.

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