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Emily Norton is a junior from Texarkana, Texas majoring in English education.
Norton first got involved in theater during her sophomore year in high school. In the school’s production of “Emma” she played the role of Ashley and instantly fell in love with theater.
After that Norton had roles in several of her high school’s productions. Although this is her first time getting involved in the Tech theater.
Norton is playing the role of Elizabeth Proctor. Elizabeth is in her early twenties, married to John Proctor. They have three sons together, with the fourth one on the way.
Norton said the biggest struggle she has faced with this part is conveying the emotion of Elizabeth’s character.
“It’s a lot of things I’m not familiar with,” said Norton. “I must be a mother and I’m not a mother, I must be a wife and I’m not a wife. This is an extremely high intensity emotional show.”
To prepare for the roles, their director has them jump in and out of character.
“We close our eyes and think about who we are about to become,” said Norton. “I don’t have mascara on, I don’t have a purse, you think about all of these things about this character.”
At the end of rehearsals, they do the same thing but jump out of character and become themselves again.
The characters go through so much that the actors don’t need to bring home with them. Norton said that this exercise helps her leave the character at rehearsals.
Norton is one of the Co-hosts for ATULive. She also works for ResLife and is social media manager for Sound Mind Sound Body on campus.
Outside of her jobs and the play, Norton loves to cook and is also involved in her church.
To keep everything balanced in her life she has her day planned out down to the hour. Norton said it is also important to have a good support system to lift her up when she is feeling down.
After graduation, Norton plans to stay in Russellville after graduation and hopes to get involved in the Russellville Community Theater.
Although Norton doesn’t want to teach theater or acting, if the school she teaches at has a theater program she does want to get involved in any way she can.
