Sweaty hands and fearful eyes – the common symptoms of stage fright, but not for Tara Willey, junior. Willey first got on stage when she was nine and has never gotten off.

“I was really interested in it,” Willey said. “I loved the idea of being on stage.”

This summer, Willey acted in the Muny and was part of Muny Teens. Around 100 to 200 high schoolers came out to Muny auditions on a Saturday and Sunday in May, but that was cut down to only 24 students.

“At the auditions, we basically danced and sang all day long,” Willey said.

A week or two later, the auditionees found out the results. And Willey had made it.

Willey was a part of “Billy Elliot”, “Addams Family”, and “Hello Dolly”. But her favorite was “Billy Elliot” where she played Tracey Atkinson.

“In ‘Billy Elliot’, I was given the opportunity to play a principle role,” Willey said. “I’m so incredibly thankful for that.”

But getting the role didn’t mean the hard work was over for Willey. It was just starting. Practices were everyday in May from 4 to 8 and then all day in the summer.

“During ‘Billy Elliot’, it got tough and exhausting and there was lots of pressure,” Willey said. “But I love it so much, there was never a time I wished I wasn’t doing it.”

Like Willey, Matt Howard, sophomore, loves performing with the Muny Teen program too. His passion for theater started early in life, when he saw his first Muny show.

“I saw ‘Peter Pan’ when I was four, and I told my mom I wanted to be up on stage,” Howard said. “She didn’t really think much of it at the time, but 4 years later I tried out and I made it.”

Howard performed in two Muny shows: “Grease” and “Seussical”. He liked “Seussical” better since he was a part of more numbers.

“It’s awesome to be on stage where there are 11,000 people watching you,” Howard said.

But there’s a lot of practice going on behind the scenes.  Although the teens are much younger than most of the professional actors, they are put up to the same rigorous work schedule.

“Shows are put together in ten days, so you really have to be on top of the game,” he said.

And, like Willey, Howard doesn’t plan on leaving the stage.

“I hope I can make it to Broadway or at least work in film,” Howard said.