Everyone hushes their voices in anticipation for what comes next as the theater lights dim down. Kierscha Moon immediately sets the scene in the mansion as a french maid, cleaning the expensive furnishings inside.

“My parents put me in a children’s theater and so I just grew to love [acting],” Moon said.

Moon has been acting since third grade and started really enjoying it before the pandemic. Although the pandemic was a setback for her due to not being able to learn as much as there weren’t any extracurricular performances, she has improved. As she started acting so young she has been able to participate in many different plays and musicals, giving her a good sense of the acting world.

“My favorite thing I’ve been in is probably ‘Clue’ because I’ve done it twice and I just get to learn more and more about it,” Moon said.

She has moved around several times due to her father being in the military. This gave her the chance to get experience getting bigger roles as she was one of the few Americans in her school in Japan.

“I think that helped me grow a lot that when I moved back to the states, I can still have that experience and work towards better roles,” Moon said.

Not many people are able to successfully carry themselves in front of an audience. Moon learned through trial and error how to also apply these skills in the classroom such as helping her with public speaking with projects. One problem with acting is when any role turns out to have inappropriate gestures or lines as such things go against her religion, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“It’s really annoying when that does come up cause it limits what I can do,” Moon said.

Due to her religion, juggling Sunday church and performances can be a struggle.

The hardest thing about acting is the auditions; it’s like tryouts or taking tests, after you do it you feel a big sense of relief. According to Kierscha, it’s as if you finally breathe after holding it in for so long.

“You’re kind of judging yourself against everyone else. It kind of gets into your head. It’s really annoying but after the audition, it’s amazing. It’s kind of like you can just let go and have a blast,” Moon said.

Some people compare acting to dance. You move at a beat and sway around the room using your words and gestures to carry the audience. Everything is amplified to a point it becomes an art form. There are certain performances actors strive to be in, like how players strive for varsity. For Moon, this is Wicked.

“I would want to be Elphaba or even Glenda like I love that musical and every role in it,” Moon said.

Role models are probably what most drive people when pursuing something they love.

“That’s really hard,” Moon said. “So I don’t really have a big role model which is weird but … whenever I see anyone acting that’s really good I go, ‘Woah.’ It’s a lot of people combined.”

One person she looks up to is her director, Ms. Cain. Moon moved to Kansas right before school started, so she has been working with Ms. Cain for about eight months now.

“She is kind, polite and reliable. She is respectful and creative and shows up prepared. Those are important qualities for artists,” Ms. Cain said. “When people think of an artist they sometimes think you can be flighty or unreliable or unprofessional because you are a creative type, and I think she is showing me that she knows better than that.”

Moon takes voice lessons, is in the choir, stays in acting classes, auditions and actively asks for feedback. Her future in acting seems to be very bright and she is ready for the action that is to come.