The Stage is Set for PAHS Senior

Editor's Note: This article was originally published in the Phoenixville High School Purple Press. It is one in a series of profiles of PAHS Class of 2013 Students posted on Patch by special arrangement with PAHS and the Purple Press student newspaper.

By Erin Boring

If you have seen one of the plays or choir concerts at Phoenixville Area High School you have most likely seen Andy Ball, and if you were in these programs, you have had the privilege to get to know this awesome senior.  

Andy Ball started choir during his freshman year of high school, but he really didn’t branch out and start doing theater until his sophomore year. That was when his friends encouraged him to audition for the schools fall play, A Philadelphia Story.

He went to auditions and ended up getting the part of Seth Lord, the father of the main character. He found he had a talent for acting, so he continued doing theater from there on. Through theater he started coming out of his shell, getting less shy and meeting new people. “I made a lot of great friends that I know I’ll keep for the rest of my life,” he said. He is inspired by his friends to do his best in theater and will miss the ones that are going far away for school.

Andy has been in many shows but some of his favorites have been Guys and Dolls, Legally Blonde and Romeo and Juliet. He liked the stage combat in Romeo and Juliet, especially the sword fights. In Guys and Dolls he played Benny South Street. The best part about playing that role was he that he got to hang out with Brad DeLeone and act like the real-life friends they are to get laughs.

The singing part that he had in playing Warner Huntington III, from Legally Blonde, was fun too. He liked that he got to be an arrogant jerk in the musical, which is the opposite of who he really is. Besides singing and acting, Andy also plays guitar and some piano.

One of his favorite memories from high school is the flash mob the choir did this year before Christmas Break. He stood up during the mock assembly to tell Dr. Parkinson that the students should do something fun instead of listen to him talk. “Everyone was so shocked because I usually don’t talk in class and when I told off Dr. Parkinson everyone was like 'what?'” he said.

Andy is going to West Chester University starting in the fall. He is currently an undeclared major, but he is considering getting his application re-evaluated so that he can become an education major. He hopes to one day be a teacher and is motivated by the teachers he has now to do his best to make that goal a reality.

Andy is looking forward to college, but will miss the high school atmosphere. He will continue to do theater in college and from how well he did in high school I can tell he will go very far in the future. The advice Andy has for freshman is: “Branch out, join different activities, things you never thought you could do. If you like it, stick with it. You’ll meet some of the best friends you’ll ever make in your whole life.”