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For Grace H. Allen ’24, theater is just one of many communities she is involved in on campus. Entering Harvard as a recruited athlete, the Human Evolutionary Biology concentrator with a Theater, Dance, and Media secondary has juggled varsity athletics and pre-med requirements while still playing a large part in Harvard’s theater community.
This spring, Allen is directing “Spring Awakening” at the Loeb Proscenium. Although this is her first time directing at Harvard, Allen is no stranger to the stage. In spring 2022, she acted in “The More You Know,” the campus premiere of a student-written musical. The show was her first time being on a stage since fall 2019. Although it was challenging to not have a soundtrack to base her acting choices off of, the show had a “lasting impact” on her theater career and allowed her to make decisions about how to play her character. In spring 2023, she also starred in “Atalanta,” another student-written musical that premiered at the Loeb Experimental Theatre.
“That character I feel like I understood on a really deep level. Reading the script, I was like, this is what I would say if I was in this position,” she said.
That same spring, Allen was also stage manager for “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812.” It was her first time being behind the scenes, a perspective she described as watching the show “build and become something beautiful.”
These experiences have helped inform her decisions as director. Throughout auditions and rehearsals for “Spring Awakening,” she has already started digging into characters and discussing technical choices with the actors.
“I was able to give notes to actors and be able to talk in their language and be like, I’ve been in your position before, I want you to succeed,” Allen said.
After deciding that she wanted to immerse herself in theater this spring, directing felt like the next step, giving her the ability to build the team and creative vision that she wanted to. But Allen didn’t always plan on staging “Spring Awakening” — she had initially planned on directing another musical altogether. However, after putting her team together and getting the show approved, they were unable to get the rights for the show they were originally planning to do. They then pivoted to “Spring Awakening” — a coming-of-age rock musical which takes place in late 19th-century Germany — because of the humor, contemporary nature, and connection that many members of the team felt to the show from when they were younger. In some ways, this change turned out to have a silver lining.
“The show must go on, and even if it’s not that show, it will be a show,” Allen said about the switch. “It was a blessing in disguise, in the sense that I felt like my whole team was able to contribute and pick a show that all of us felt excited about.”
Though theater is what consumes Allen’s life during spring semester, it is just one facet of her life on campus.
“In the fall, I’m doing volleyball and that’s my priority. In the spring, I’m doing theater, and that’s my priority. Over the summer, I am being a pre-med, and I’m doing my research and my EMT-ing, and I’m taking the MCAT,” Allen said.
Chuckling when asked about how she juggles everything, Allen spoke of how she has learned how to be “really deliberate” with her time management and her capacity within a semester, learning to say no when she needs to. Although her many passions seemed separate to Allen for much of her life, she has found a unifying connection in the teamwork that they all require.
“Up until I think really recently, I would kind of say that I’m just doing things that I enjoy, and I’m just kind of randomly focused. I think a lot of this ties into [the fact] that I like working with other people. I don’t just like to be in a void,” she said. “I like to be surrounded by others and working towards a project.”
As women’s varsity volleyball captain, this means matches and practices with her team. In theater, this means working with the staff and cast to make creative visions come to life. As an EMT, this means working with her partner to help their patients.
Reflecting on her time at Harvard, Allen is grateful that she was able to pursue all of her passions and interests, ticking off her “Harvard bucket list items.” With regards to her journey within the arts, she is grateful to her family for always encouraging her, her theater friends for creating a place where she can be her “most authentic self,” and her friends in other circles for being there for her, even when she is busy with rehearsals and has less time to see them.
When asked about theater in her future, Allen is sure it will play a role.
“Coming to Harvard and still being a varsity athlete and being pre-med and still being able to have such a stronghold with the theater community has made me confident that I will never stop performing,” she said. “I will never stop being a part of the theater community. I will always find it.”
—Staff writer Hannah M. Wilkoff can be reached at hannah.wilkoff@thecrimson.com.
