The world really does seem like a stage to Moriah Turick who spends much of her free time on it. The 15-year-old Fulton High School freshman is not only involved with the FHS Drama Club but also the PACE Youth Theatre in Columbia. Turick is currently rehearsing for her sixth performance with the theater. She will play Miss Edmunds in "Bridge to Terabithia."
"I've always loved acting," Turick said. "It's a way to put myself out there and not be embarrassed."
Turick, who has been with PACE since the seventh grade, said she enjoys making friends with the other cast members at PACE and gaining the "real-world" experience being an actress with the theater provides.
The PACE, Performing Arts in Children's Education, mission is to develop youth education in all aspects of theater performance, management and production for children ages 4-18. During the school year, Turick said she spends a few hours almost every Saturday rehearsing at the Youth Theatre.
However, she said the time and commitment is "worth it."
"These are very committed actors," Angela Howard, artistic director with PACE, said of the children who are a part of the Youth Theatre. "This is what they want. They want a program where everybody there is 100 percent committed."
Howard is directing "Bridge to Terabithia," which will be performed at 7 p.m. on Dec. 2-5 and 2 p.m. on Dec. 5 at the Columbia Entertainment Company. Howard said the two-act play, running about 80 minutes, follows the book fairly closely.
"I wanted to try and stay as true to the story line as possible," she said.
This is the second play Turick has starred in where Howard was the director. The first was "Sound of Music." Many of the plays Turick acts in are musicals.
"She's got a beautiful singing voice," Howard said.
Turick says she prefers musicals.
"I really like to sing," she said. "I take vocal lessons, and I take piano."
Turick is also currently working on a role in the FHS Drama Club's musical, "Godspell." She will play "Sonia," who is a temptress in the play.
Mikelle Cortez, FHS theater director, said sometimes freshman are hesitant to get involved in high school productions, but Turick "jumped in with both feet."
"It's good to see a freshman getting involved," Cortez said.
"Godspell," which will run at 7 p.m. Feb. 10, 11 and 12 and also 2 p.m. on Feb. 12, is open to the public and tickets will be $6.
"It is a storytelling of the book of Matthew," Cortez explained.
Even though Turick has acted in several different plays, she said she still gets nervous when she performs. But since the audience sits in darkness during the performances, she said she can't see them and that is reassuring.
"I just don't think about it, and it helps," she said.
Turick said she plans to continue acting with PACE and at the high school.
"I want to be an actress," she relates, "but I'm not sure how that's gonna work out."