Graduating senior Kylie Ozbun has been involved in school musicals and plays since her sophomore year. During the past three years, she has held many roles in these productions and has been a significant performer. Most recently, she played Adelaide in Guys and Dolls which is recognized as a principal role. Throughout her high school career, she has accomplished many things and has been honored for her hard work in places other than at school.

Ozbun began auditioning for the musicals and plays at school because she was looking to try something new, and has enjoyed the process. Ozbun said that each performance and show has brought something unexpected. For her audition in Guys and Dolls, she went into it thinking she was going to get a different role.  She planned her entire audition around this specific role. After seeing the cast list, she was surprised to see her name listed as another character but was nonetheless excited.

“I saw the cast list and I was like oh, okay. I got a different role, but I was excited that I even got a lead role in the production. It was really fun,” said Ozbun.

Because of her strong performance in Guys and Dolls, Ozbun was given the chance to perform at an opening showcase at the Des Moines Civic Center. She was nominated by Mrs. Cassel, Mrs. Longman, and Reyna Shirley-Brown for this opportunity. Along with getting to perform at a showcase, she was honored with a chance to audition for Triple Threat. Ozbun was chosen for this audition because a spectator from the Iowa Musical Theater Awards was watching her perform in Guys and Dolls and selected her.

Being in Triple Threat includes getting chosen to go to the Civic Center where you perform and represent your school. From that, they choose two people to represent Iowa at the Jimmy Awards in New York City. Ozbun was chosen to audition for this program by receiving an outstanding performance award in Guys and Dolls. The Civic Center honored her with that and allowed her to audition for Triple Threat. Even though Ozbun did not get chosen to be a part of Triple Threat, she is thankful for the process.

“It’s really difficult to get chosen, but I am just glad I even got honored for it at all,” said Ozbun. “I was even just shocked to get recognized for something that big.”

The audition for Triple Threat was rigorous and consisted of dancing to a song from The Greatest Showman, singing two songs (one of her choice and one given to her), completing a monologue, and sending everything in.

“For Triple Threat, I was very nervous. I felt like I had a lot of pressure to do my best. Mostly for myself though because I wanted it so bad, but you have to you have to put all that aside and fake it until you make it,” said Ozbun.

Preparing for the audition was a huge amount of work for Ozbun as there were many components. She said that she had minimal dancing experience back in middle school, so having a movement portion of the audition was a big step. Leading up to the Triple Threat audition, Ozbun met with a dance instructor and practiced for three weeks. She practiced the dance choreography on her own and took voice lessons to better prepare. She also met with Mrs. Cassel to work on the monologue.

“I wanted to push myself, and I thought it was a good challenge. I was scared of it, but ultimately it was a dream of mine that I’ve always wanted to do,” Ozbun said. “I always wanted to go to New York and perform, and I wanted to see if I could do anything to get closer to achieving that. It didn’t work out for me exactly, but it’s okay. It just happens, it’s part of it.”

After high school, Ozbun plans to continue being a part of musicals. She said she misses being a part of musicals, performing, and making friends. She plans to audition for the Des Moines Playhouse and other programs after high school. She received a production scholarship at Simpson and will be very heavily involved in their theater program.

Throughout high school, musical theater has taught Ozbun many valuable lessons.

“I think it’s important to stay optimistic even if things don’t turn out the way you want them to because that’s how it will always work,” said Ozbun.”I’ve had to learn that it’s not always that you are not good enough, it’s just they are looking for something different.”