As co-president and actor for the Portage High School Thespians, senior Matt Kiley knows all about having his life set in the spotlight.
Kiley’s onstage career began the spring of his freshman year, when his teacher encouraged him to audition for “The Wedding Singer” after seeing him act out “Romeo and Juliet” in English class.
Since then, he has participated in 7 other shows through the school and a production of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ with the Dunes’ Summer Theatre.
“Beginning theatre, I wasn’t very comfortable on stage. I was a nervous wreck,” Kiley said. “I remember doing ‘The 39 Steps’ [my sophomore year] and I would literally be shaking, like a ridiculous amount of shaking, and you could hear it come through my voice.”
Regardless, Kiley showed potential and began securing lead roles in high school productions the spring of his sophomore year, when he played Emmett Forrest in “Legally Blonde: The Musical.”
Continuing that trend, he is currently rehearsing for his role as Jesus in the musical “Godspell.”
Based on parables from the Book of Matthew from the Bible, the show, according to Kiley, is “more about the lessons that are being taught by these [stories] and how the community adapts and learns these lessons.”
The show runs Apr. 17, 18, 24 and 25 at 7:30 p.m. and Apr. 19 at 2:30 p.m. in the Portage High School East Auditorium. Prices will be $8 for students and $10 for adults.
“This past year or two, our program’s been lagging on ticket sales and it would be nice to have a big crowd come out,” Kiley said. “A second reason is we are going to have an amazing show, at least from a technical aspect, I can say that right now. >From the looks of it we’re very well prepared and I think we can have a great performance from the actors involved as well.”
Playing Jesus for this musical has proved to be a unique challenge for Kiley. He said understanding and portraying such a well-known figure can be intimidating and that it has never been this difficult to find his rhythm before.
“Jesus is tough because you’ve got to have a median between being gentle and jovial and being stern and authorities, and a lot of it is tough for me because I don’t think of myself as a confident person, and that’s what Jesus is, he’s a very confident individual,” Kiley said. “He’s a teacher, and I’ve never really seen myself as much of a leader. It’s difficult.”
Thankfully, Kiley approaches acting with a strong focus on characterization in general. Since he is accustomed to delving deeply into his roles, he has been able to conquer “Godspell” with the same mindset.
“If I can find a character, I feel like I can figure out what that character is going to say at any particular moment, so once you’re able to find that – I mean still learn your lines but – if you happen to forget you can figure out where you need to go if you have to improvise,” Kiley said.
This method stems from his overall beliefs about theatre. Kiley enjoys the escape theatre provides from his daily life.
“My favorite part about being in theatre is that theatre gives you an opportunity to be somebody else, so if you’re not comfortable in your own skin, you can be whoever you want for however long you want onstage,” Kiley said.
Kiley admitted that before ‘The Wedding Singer', he had no friends and was unhappy with his life. The show, now one of his favorites he’s ever performed, helped change that.
“Doing ‘The Wedding Singer I was able to meet a whole new different group of people, and all of my best friends have come from the theatre so getting involved has played a big role in my life, and that’s one of the reasons I love ‘The Wedding Singer’ a lot.”
‘The Wedding Singer’ also put his relationship with his mentor, Auditorium Director Kevin Giese, in motion.
“I remember he wrote on my [‘Wedding Singer’] poster at the end of the year, ‘I love how you are willing to do anything for the show,'” Kiley said. “That was really cool of him to put down, and ever since ‘Legally Blonde’ when I got my first lead role in a show, he’s helped me with a ton.”
During “Legally Blonde,” Giese contacted a speech pathologist to help Kiley correct his lisp, “one of the nicest things somebody’s ever done” for him. Kiley said he now sounds more professional, even though his lisp is not completely gone.
Kiley said Giese is there for him both onstage and off, as a friend as well as a mentor.
“He’s a great guy, he has a big heart, and to be honest I think of him as a role model, as somebody I wish I could be half as great as,” Kiley said.
Emulating Giese, Kiley co-directed “4 Beekman,” Portage High School’s first student production in 40 years, this past January.
“Directing was different because having acted before, I knew a general basis of how to move onstage and take stage direction, but to give it was a different monster,” Kiley said.
According to Kiley, it was also a challenge to change his relationship with the cast, many of whom he had acted with before, and take a role as their boss.
“It was difficult but it was definitely a lot of fun and an extremely rewarding experience,” Kiley said.
Although he enjoyed directing, Kiley said acting is still his favorite part of theatre.
“To be honest, I was jealous of [the cast] when I was watching ‘4 Beekman’ because it looked like such a fun show to be a part of,” Kiley said. “I was sitting in the audience, and as proud as I was, I wished, Man, I wish I could have just one line in the show.”
The dynamic of the cast, however, is what Kiley believes made the show a success.
“The entire cast enjoyed themselves and it really brought everything together, and that’s one of the best parts about theatre is when you can really feel the unity among the cast and the crew,” Kiley said.
Although Godspell will be Kiley’s final high school performance, he expects its effects to last well past closing curtain.
“Without theatre, I have no idea where I would be. I think it’s greatly influenced where I want to go to college and where I want to go in my career and I always think that theatre is going to be an important part in my life, even when I’m 60 years old.”
Before joining the theatre department, he planned to go to college for business and become an entrepreneur. Now his future includes attending Ball State University in the fall for telecommunications to edit film.