Vestavia Hills junior receives regional award

A lead role in an elementary school play set Vestavia Hills High School junior Colton Smith on a path that has now led to a major regional award.

Smith, 17, has been recognized as a “Keynote Emerging Artist of Promise” by the Southeastern Theatre Conference, one of only four students across the Southeast awarded that distinction.

Smith will attend the conference’s convention March 1-6 in Kentucky, where he will be able to learn from workshops and get his foot in the door for auditions in front of hundreds of colleges and more.

“I was completely surprised when I found out I won,” Smith said. “It’s very humbling.”

The conference will let him audition in front of more than 300 schools, allowing his name to rise to the top and “cut through the fat” of what can be a difficult application process, Smith said.

Smith began acting in fifth grade, landing the lead role in a play that year, he said. That led to him choosing theater as an elective in middle school and continuing on his acting path through his high school years.

“It’s just really, really freeing to be able to express your thoughts and condense this manifestation of emotions through a character,” Smith said.

Smith spends time getting inside his characters: their life experience, their thoughts and more, in order to be as diverse a performer as possible, he said. Doing so allowed him to play Adrian in Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors,” though the department gender-flipped the play.

“I immersed myself in it,” Smith said.

He and several of his peers won best in show for that performance, while Smith personally won best lead performer.

Jamie Stephenson, Smith’s theater teacher at VHHS, said Smith has a strong work ethic.

“His hard work and talent make him stand out,” Stephenson said. “He is the first one to perfect the dance or to memorize the lines. He is that student that leans in and loves the work rather than looking for the easy way out.”

Smith is the second VHHS student to be named an emerging artist of promise, following Diane Snoddy five years ago, Stephenson said.

“It is a huge honor and says a lot about the strength of our program and the students that are in the theater program,” Stephenson said. “We work to give our students numerous opportunities for success.”

Excelling academically has always come easy for Smith, he said. He plans on furthering his education not only in acting, but in the legal field as well, double majoring in pre-law and performing arts. In the future, he hopes to act or work in entertainment law cases. It’s his way of combining his strengths with the world that he loves.

“I just want to be in the industry,” Smith said.

The performing arts aren’t given nearly as much spotlight as other parts of the school, Smith said. It’s easy for them to be overlooked next to STEM-connected competition teams or athletics, he said.

In addition to his work in the theater department, Smith is in the show choir and drumline and plans to take all Advanced Placement courses next year, he said.

“Vestavia … has given me a platform to do so much and find a balance,” Smith said. “Mrs. Stephenson has taught me so much.”

Smith’s goal is to be able to act and audition for any project that interests him, not worrying about financial inhibitors, but hopefully as part of the entertainment world, he said. He hasn’t chosen a college yet but is looking at Boston University, Belmont University and the University of Miami.