Standing in the right is me, Allison Mendoza, and the person that I have my arms wrapped around is Jacob Eaker, the first friend I made in Tiger Theater, and the person I have looked up to these past three years that I have been acting.
Coming to Consol, I knew I wanted to do theater. I have been wanting to act since I can remember, but high school theater would finally be my time to “shine”. I auditioned for the play Dracula and had earned the role of one of the guards. I cried the day the cast list was dropped because I was disappointing that I couldn’t get the lead role. The first day of rehearsals was very overwhelming, I was a freshman surrounded by people who had done this many times in the past, they all knew each other. I scanned the room and to say the least, they all looked pretty intimidating, I glanced at a guy with hair that covered half of his face, he was looking over the script. Our director, Mr. Williamson came and told us to go to the auditorium and so we did. He began this first rehearsal with a technique that he will continue using in all the shows that I’ve been in to this day, he wanted us to relax and get to know each other. He told us to partner up with a person and I felt so terrified because I knew absolutely NO ONE! But the guy with the long hair who had to flip it back so you could see his eyes came towards me and introduced himself, “I’m Jacob”, and so I introduced myself and as much as I wish I could remember the whole conversation, I can’t. But what I can remember is that this guy was the first person who came up to me and made me feel not so alone anymore.
I got to know Jacob even better during Dracula, and let me tell you that he is one of the sweetest, most understanding person that I know. He worked at Blue Baker and in most rehearsals he would bring bread to share with the whole cast. He socialized with everyone and was extremely friendly. A few days later I found out that he was a Junior and I felt extremely happy, because that meant that I had another year left with him. I was encouraged by him and Ms. Pena to join speech and debate, so I did. But, as much as I would like to brag, I did not do so great in the tournaments, probably because performing in front of a judge felt more intimidating than in front of an audience. Jacob however, owned all of the performances that he would be in. I came to watch him once at the speech and debate tournament and his acting was magnificent, and I thought “I want to be as good as he is”.
Freshman year came and went and during sophomore year I wasn’t feeling so alone anymore. I had made a few friends in tiger theater and I had my best friend, Jacob Eaker. The show being produced for my sophomore year was Game of Tiaras and I was given the role of the Blood Packet Guy, this would be the last fall show that I would participate in with Jacob and just as Dracula, we had lots of fun during this production and I got to know Jacob even better. But during the One Act Play during my sophomore year, this was the one year that I truly admired this guy for his acting skills. He auditioned for the lead role of Dr. Jekyll Hyde in the play of Chemical Imbalance and he had gotten it! As he should. And I played Jekyll’s sister, Ambrosia. Our chemistry on stage was phenomenal, we made a great duo and there was this laugh we both shared together that we never messed up. When Jacob transformed himself from Jekyll into Hyde, he would quite literally throw himself into the stage and start shaking. He could have won an Academy Award with that performance, let me just say that. During the competition, I was so glad to have heard his name be called out when he won Best Actor, because not only was it his last year but his performance was unmatched. When they called out Best Actress, he told me “you will get it next year”, and these words made me smile very more, because he was the person I looked up to and he made sure to tell me that I was great, and to not worry about not earning an award that year. We didn’t advance, and that disappointed him the most because he believed that winning best actor was guaranteed to allow us to advance.
Now you might think, how does this affect me? Well, Jacob wasn’t just my friend, he is the person who has inspired many of the passions I hold to this day. I like photography because of him, he taught me how to work with the sound during my freshman year, he always made sure to be understanding and always listened to everything I said. His acting inspired me to further my love for acting and taught me so many new techniques. Jacob Eaker is dedicated, passionate, smart and kind. Many of his qualities have grown on me and I am so grateful that I was gifted with such an amazing inspiration, because I believe in Jacob’s talent and ability to do great things in his future.
The picture above was taken after my Junior production, Badgers. I was given the lead role of Rose and I was so happy because I had worked so hard for that moment, my first moment to “shine” on that stage in front of an audience. Jacob had been there on the last production, he had come to watch it all the way from UT, where he attended this year to continue pursuing his dream of acting. He came with us to celebrate our last production to Denny’s, which has been our tradition since we can all remember, and that’s when we took that picture. The smile and the hugs mean so much more than that picture tells, Jacob Eaker deserves the future, because he gave me one that is far more meaningful to me today.
