In her heart Noelle McCabe is still a “Salmon Bay Lifer” (K-8), even though she’s a senior at Roosevelt High School who claims, “I haven’t gotten used to it.” But between now and graduation Noelle has another stop to make: one that usually represents an actor’s dream, not their starting point. Noelle will be one of three Puget Sound students competing on a Broadway stage in the 5th August Wilson Monologue Competition in May.

“It’s been amazing,” Noelle said. “As an actor you want to end up on a New York City stage, but as a teen…I still can’t believe it.” Noelle has never even been to New York.

Just returned from Washington State Thespian Festival (Showcase winner in Duo category) and currently rehearsing for two musicals as well as the competition, Noelle considers herself foremost a Shakespearean actor. Around third grade Noelle started doing youth theater camps that put on a Shakespeare play in a week. Then came a rite of passage for any Salmon Bay “lifer:” teacher Jan Wilson’s annual Shakespeare production.

Wilson was a founding teacher at COHO, later merged with New Options Middle School (NOMS) and integrated into the Monroe Building on NW 65th as Salmon Bay School. Every spring Wilson directs a Shakespeare play, in recent years rewritten by fellow teacher Judy Bierman, as a musical. When Noelle was in 5th grade the play was “Much Ado About Nothing.” She tried out for Ursula because, “The role had only 8-9 lines.” Noelle got the part and has kept the vow she made then, “Next time, more lines.”

By 8th grade Noelle was pinning her hopes on Roosevelt High School because of its theater program. She was #18 on the wait list, terrified that only numbers 1-17 would be accepted. But along with three other Salmon Bay students Noelle started at Roosevelt High School as Class of 2011. They’d moved from Phinney Ridge one day earlier: the night before school started she felt like her known world was completely upside down.

By sophomore year Noelle had committed to theater and started studying voice. She’s directed and performed at Seattle Public Theater. She’s currently rehearsing for Roosevelt’s “Titanic: The Musical” and a special production of Shakespeare’s sonnets set to music. Then there’s the August Wilson Monologue Competition which narrowed from 21 students to 11, and then three finalists at Seattle Repertory on March 8th who proceed to the national level on May 9th on Broadway’s August Wilson Theater.

The Tony and Pulitzer prize-winning playwright August Wilson lived and worked in Seattle the last fifteen years of his life. After his death colleagues founded a youth competition of his monologues. This is the Seattle Repertory Theater’s first year of participation.

Noelle was aware of Wilson’s work but to this day has never seen a full performance. The semi-finals took place in late February. Noelle’s only interaction on that day was with one other Roosevelt actor and the Seattle Rep staff. Education intern Ana Maria Campoy would take each student upstairs to the judges for their three-minute monologue. Noelle had chosen Rose’s monologue just before her husband’s funeral in “Fences,” an intensely emotional selection. Three quarters of the way through, just before the part she considered strongest, Noelle blanked. Actors are trained to either cover for one another, or recover in a monologue. It had never happened to her in competition. “I’m sorry. Could I start again?” she asked the judges then turned away before starting fresh. Her mind went blank, in shock that she had lost her place for the first time ever. The lines weren’t coming back. “I’m going to stop there,” she said to the judges, who in turn looked stunned.

The intern Ana Maria Campoy said to Noelle as they went back downstairs, “The only thing that matters is what you get out of it.”

Noelle already had the presence of mind to think at that moment, “Wow, I’ve already gotten a lot out of it.” She had blanked, but she was proud of her performance regardless. Clearly the judges had seen enough; along with ten others she got a call back within the next day. There was no hesitation on the night of the finals. As for the competition in New York, “Seattle Rep is in this to win,” said Scott Kao, Teacher Programs Director.

Meanwhile back at Salmon Bay teacher Jan Wilson has supposedly retired, but not from doing what she loves to do: directing the Shakespeare play in the spring. She and fellow retired teacher Judy Bierman are already planning next year’s Motown production of “The Tempest.”

Noelle McCabe may still be getting used to Roosevelt but this summer she’ll need to start packing her bags for her freshman year at St. Olaf College near Minneapolis. As for Jan Wilson, she tries to catch as many performances as possible of former students who got bitten by the acting bug under her watch. She should start packing for New York.