STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Elena Huntley!

Miss Elena Huntley is one of our Red Room students who first wow’ed our staff and students with her love of the Japanese language. She has been teaching herself Japanese since October 2021 and is on a 203 day Duolingo streak right now!

However, it wasn’t long before she demonstrated her creative abilities here at Dynamic – from her gorgeous anime drawings, to her Golden Key from our Trash-to-Treasure Project, to designing her own Halloween costumes, her design talent has become well-known throughout the school! We more recently learned of her prowess as a hands-on seamstress when she helped make heating pads for the Arts Together staff during our “Holidays for Heroes” project, staying up until the wee hours machine-sewing her contributions. It just so turns out that Elena is very interested in theatre props and costumes and will be assisting with props for DO’s current theatre production of “Dynamic’s Twisted Skits” as well as providing narration for two of the plays.

But Elena’s interest in theatre costume design extends far beyond DO… her activity in the community is really exciting and prompted this spotlight! After sewing lessons in early 2023, she completed a costume for GalaxyCon Raleigh and also created props to accompany the cosplay. Just last week, Elena had an interview with the Props Director, Costume Director, and Stage Manager for the Applause! Cary Youth Theatre’s next production of “Matilda Jr.”!  Elena was thrilled to be chosen as a member of the Design Team for the musical and will be designing, sewing and helping produce props. She will be at the Cary Arts Center a minimum of 9 hours per week and will also be working backstage as Crew during the production, which runs from March 22-24. The show is truly a family affair, as her younger sister and brother are members of the “Matilda Jr.” cast.

More information and tickets for “Matilda Jr.” are available at https://www.carync.gov/recreation-enjoyment/arts-culture/youth-theatre/upcoming-productions/matilda-jr. Elena and her family would love to invite everyone to come out and see the show!

Bravo, Elena – we are so proud of you and can’t wait to see what you come up with next!!!