You may remember meeting Maria Freeman five years ago in the April 2019 issue. Maria was looking forward to starting her freshman year of high school at the time. Four years later, Maria is now a recent graduate from the Classical Conversations homeschool program, a conversational based approach mainly focusing on the classics. 

 

During high school, Maria continued her passion and pursuit of the arts with the Lancaster Academy for the Performing Arts, where she has performed since she was six and has acted in all of their shows except for a few of the summer camps. Although Maria fell in love with theater as a six-year-old, she confessed that “it probably had more to do with the attention that came with it. As I got older,” she continued, “I learned to value the ability to express the life of someone else; it offered me perspective.” In high school, she branched out and worked with Servant Stage, Cavod, Susquehanna Stage, and Third Space Theatre. Some of her recent shows include Annie Get Your Gun (where she was ensemble and director’s assistant), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Mrs. Sanders/ understudy Millie), and A Tale of Two Cities, which was her first non-youth production. “My favorite show has been A Tale of Two Cities,” Maria shared. “Not only was it a lot of fun and a good growing experience, it also has such a powerful story and has some of the best music I have heard.”  “On par with Les Misérables, in my opinion,” she added. Maria found it hard to pick a favorite role. “One that was really fun,” she shared, “was Kelsie Nelson in High School Musical, because whenever people find out I played her, their reaction is always, ‘Of course, you got typecast as the songwriter.’”

 

Indeed, Maria has composed about 25 songs and recently released one, “Dear Johnny,” on Spotify (under the name Maria Gabriella) where it has received over 5300 streams and a lot of positive feedback. When asked about the inspiration for “Dear Johnny,” Maria shared that it was a way of remembering 15 other kids she spent time with when she was in the hospital for an evaluation. “The song is really about multiple people there and serves as a well wish to all of them,” she said. “A lot of my songs are about people I have been, or wish I was close to,” explained Maria. “I like to say what I could never say to their face, whether that be due to resentment, affection, or both,” she continued. “Poetic language and music in general have been more effective in showing my attitude towards anything I may be experiencing than regular speaking.” Music and songwriting have become forefront in Maria’s ambitions. “I began leaning towards music by itself as composition doesn’t necessarily require being as ‘big,’” she explained. 

 

Maria hasn’t completely abandoned acting, however. She recently worked on a short film project with Maestro FilmWorks in Philadelphia, PA called Give Me a Sign. Maria played the role of a deaf girl named Anne. “It was a great experience with a lot of wonderful people,” she shared. “The script was really fun and I enjoyed the process of trying to put myself in Anne’s shoes by learning sign language and trying my best to replicate what it would be like for her.”

 

This fall, Maria plans to attend a very small liberal arts college in Virginia where she plans to study philosophy. While there, she would like to continue writing, performing, and recording her own music and maybe join the theater club. 

 

In the meantime, in addition to a few private events over the summer, Maria will also be performing downtown at Music Friday, June 21st at 5:30pm. Feel free to come out and hear her!