By Kristen Applebaum, Staff Writer

The Mad Hatter, Noodler, Scar, Mr. Wickham, Roger the greaser and Mozart – what could all these bizarre characters possibly have in common?

They all came to life thanks to the stage presence of sophomore Jonathon Davis.

“I had friends that were into some of the same stuff as me and we would hang out and play video games together,” Davis said. “But there was always a little bit missing, that I felt like I had so much more energy than a lot of them all the time.”

The artistic side in Davis began to shine through in third grade when he would illustrate his own characters, drawing inspiration from his favorite books at the time. Over the years, Davis was encouraged by friends he met through art to expand his creative abilities.

“Having other art friends and being around other artists who I honestly think were more into it than me was cool because I saw myself improving, so I started to branch out and draw different stuff,” Davis said.

Davis’ love for theater and acting began in seventh grade with his first role as Noodler the pirate in a Dockside production of “Peter Pan.” He was dedicated to playing the part to the best of his ability, so he decided to learn from his favorite YouTube comedians.

“They would do a lot of improv exercises and stuff because they wanted to be better comedians,” Davis said. “I would kind of learn from that and eventually benefit from it because I just understood how to inflect more and basically how to play as a character.”

He went on to play leading roles in later Dockside productions such as The Mad Hatter in “Alice in Wonderland” and Scar in “The Lion King.” After a great run in the community productions, he took a break his eighth-grade year but jumped right back in upon starting high school.

“It was about a year without theater, which was pretty drab, but then finally my freshman year I auditioned for ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ Davis said.

Transitioning from cheery and lighthearted musicals at Dockside to bigger and more serious StageKraft plays was difficult for Davis. As a newcomer, he didn’t feel as connected to the upperclassmen and wasn’t sure how to find his place.

Once rehearsals for “Pride and Prejudice” started to run later at night and become more in-depth, Davis finally felt more comfortable both on the stage and around the rest of the cast. Director Lauren Deal was impressed by Davis’ first high school performance.

“Jonathon was already a really fantastic actor when he came in from the middle school, but he’s tried new roles and is always open to finding ways to make his performance better,” Deal explained.

After his performance in this fall’s “Still Life with Iris” as a quirky Mozart, Deal has high hopes for what Davis will bring to the plays and musicals in the coming years. She believes his eye-catching personality will help him exceed on the stage.

“I’m so excited that Jonathon is only a sophomore because there are so many musicals I want to hear him sing and so many parts that I want to see him play, so I’m super excited for his future with StageKraft,” Deal said.

In the second semester of Davis’ freshman year, it was time for the spring musical, “Grease.” Performing in a musical seemed out of his comfort zone, but Davis was inspired to try it by his older sister, Grace, who performed for Manteo High School’s drama department.

Dancing is not one of Davis’ strongest areas, which made choreography days a little stressful. Still, he sees “Grease” as an almost life-changing period in his life.

“ ‘Grease’ was pretty much the best experience of my life,” Davis recalled. “What inspired me to keep doing theater was the people I was around and the experience of making something really cool that I’m proud of.”

Along with getting to be in the spotlight, Davis is simply thankful for all the friends he’s made through theater. It’s one of his favorite perks to spending hours after school rehearsing.

“There are so many moments in between that are really fun, and once you’re done the satisfaction is incredible,” Davis said. “Just making a product with all these people that you love so much and that you’ve bonded with is super awesome.”

Senior Kristen Applebaum can be reached at [email protected].