In his sophomore year, Matt Cowen steps into an audition that completely changes his high school experience.

As a long-time musician, he joins the Madrigals Singers earlier that year. Having come out of Madrigals with an interest in further live performances, he decides to try out for the Musical Comedy Murders of the 1940’s.

“I thought it would be fun. I like music. I like comedy, and murder seemed interesting,” he explains. Having so little experience, Matt doesn’t think he actually has a chance at a part. Fortunately, he does.

From then on, Matt (senior) has a hand in every show. When he receives a new script, his first instinct is to memorize the whole thing. No notetaking, no annotation; just simply staring at the lines and occasionally muttering them aloud until they stick in his head.

Once that’s all crammed, Matt focuses solely on his character. His thinks about what they would be thinking when in the situations depicted in the play. All the while, he begins adding his own inflections and speech patterns to the script. This builds the character inside of him, blending the voice of Matt, and the mind of the character into a cohesive pair. This simple approach to preparation garners many praise-worthy performances for Matt.

Matt learned a great deal in the last three year.

“I have been blown away by a lot of things I’ve seen and experienced,” he recounts.

Having built many strong relationships at NHS through drama, it’ll be a bitter-sweet year for him, knowing he’ll have to say goodbye after graduation.

Matt is not without advice to those that follow in his footsteps: “You might think you don’t have a chance, but you very well do. All you’ve gotta do it put yourself out there.”