Meet Vivienne Mestraud: Theater Columnist

Meet the theater columnist, Vivienne Mestraud! Joining clay for the first time, Vivienne is a fifth-year TPSer, sixteen, and in tenth grade. Having grown up near Washington, D.C., Vivenne is familiar with school trips to the Kennedy Center, WolfTrap, and the Washington Monument, among other local Smithsonian Institute highlights. This year Vivienne is taking six classes with The Potter’s School: Physics, Pre-Calculus, Spanish 2, U.S. Government & Economics, English 4/5/6 Western Lit, and Bible Survey. While Vivienne has taken quite a few classes with TPS before, she states, “Language classes have continued to compete with history to be my favorite. The way that TPS integrates teaching about culture into their language classes is my favorite way of learning.”

Vivienne has loved the theater since she attended the WolfTrap Family Theater at age two. While she is not an actor, Vivienne loves singing along to the soundtracks and being a member of the support crew. She has performed and been backstage for several productions, but her favorite task is creating set design. From Hamilton to Les Misérables, Vivienne loves historical re-mix performances as well as watching nostalgic shows such as Matilda the Musical or The Lion King. She could never pick a favorite, but in her opinion, the best way to watch such shows is sitting next to her family with plenty of snacks and a bottle of lemonade.

Even though Vivienne might not have as many hobbies as the next person, she loves gymnastics and is in her second year as a Level 9 gymnast. She has been going to the gym since she was three years old and was competing on her team by the time she turned eight. She loves to make apple pie for holidays, works part-time as a lifeguard for her local community center, adores spending time with her dog, and goes to shows at nearby theaters whenever she is able. As an avid history fan, Vivienne loves to travel, and her wish to see the Colosseum and the Acropolis has already been fulfilled. Other destinations include Costa Rica to Greece, yet she shows no signs of stopping exploring the world.

One can usually find Vivienne either curled up on her beanbag snuggling with her dog, reading away, or working hard at the gym because competition season has arrived. Commenting on set design, production, scripts, and a performance’s meaning was a fun way to pass time with her family, but Vivienne cannot wait to put her thoughts to paper as a columnist. Theater has always been one of her passions, and she is excited to see how she grows as a writer for clay this year.

Photo Credit: Vivienne Mestraud