Student Profile: Tara Riedel
When Tara Riedel came to Alma College, she knew she would meet plenty of new people. But through her involvement in theatre, she has gotten to know someone she didn’t necessarily expect to: herself.
“I’ve learned so much about myself as a person in the last three years,” she says. “The Meisner technique has us focus on our acting partner instead of ourselves. As backward as it seems, I’ve learned that when you stop focusing on yourself, you really learn about yourself.”
Though Riedel came to Alma planning to major in music, the Traverse City senior says she immediately connected with theatre students and realized her hobby since 7th grade was something more than that.
“I found that I have such a passion for theatre,” she says. “I could never imagine myself not being involved in it. It’s the only thing I still see myself doing in 30 years and never getting sick of doing.”
In addition to acting in multiple productions, Riedel has experienced theatre from the other side of the curtain this year by directing for the first time ever in the One-Act Play Festival.
“I realized that there is no right or wrong way to go about directing,” she says. “There are only stronger or weaker choices. It was hard to think about the potential choices and choose the ones that would make the play the best. But I had a great group of actors who worked really well together and were responsive to me.”
