A Little Bit About Me

Hi, my name is Valerie Stevens. Ever since the day I saw my first musical at age 2, I have known that I wanted musical theater to be part of my life. I performed in a musical for the first time at age 7, and that's when I fell in love. Since then, I have performed in over 30 productions and decided to make a career in "show business".

Now I am a sophomore working towards my Bachelor of Music in Musical Theater at the Westminster College of the Arts of Rider University. One of the greatest advantages of my school is the connections it has with professionals in the business. Our professors have had successful careers and are teaching us how to follow in their footsteps. The networking our program allows us to do is a unique experience that I believe will help me in the future.

My program is also helping me enhance the positive characteristics I already possess while teaching me new ones. I am easy to work with, professional, and not afraid to take risks in my performing. I take direction and criticism well and am learning the most effective ways to apply feedback in order to get the best possible outcome. I learn music, choreography, and memorize quickly, and am also very versatile. I can sing both classical and contemporary works, dance a range of styles, and transform into virtually any character. Being able to play a wide range of roles gives me more opportunities to get a job.

I know it's not going to be easy, but I am extremely dedicated and passionate about this career and am ready to do whatever it takes to be successful. My ultimate goal is to perform on Broadway. I also hope to join Actor's Equity and become a member of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Another goal of mine is to always stay grounded and remember where I came from. And most importantly, I promised myself that I will only continue in this career as long as I love to perform. Without pure passion for this art, it is nothing but someone standing on a stage singing. I want to breathe life into every performance so that it brings as much joy to the audience as it does to me.

Performance Class

As a part of the voice primary track of my major, we are required to take voice lessons and participate in both studio and performance class. Studio class is when all the students of one voice teacher meet and perform for one another, but performance class is when all of the voice studios come together and a select few perform for everyone. During the Fall of 2009, I had the privilege of performing a solo in a performance class. I sang "Jimmy" from Thoroughly Modern Millie. It was a great opportunity to sing in front of a large group of my peers and their voice teachers. I enjoyed the experience and hope to be able to perform in another performance class next year.

"Jimmy" - Valerie Stevens from Valerie Stevens on Vimeo.

Fire Safety PSA

During the spring semester of 2010, I took a communications course in Voice and Articulation. The course taught me how to take proper care of my voice and how to make it sound the best it possibly can both in person and in a recording. I learned several vital lessons that will help me keep my voice healthy and powerful throughout my career, including personalized warm-ups, how to nurse my voice back to health when I'm sick, and how to neutralize my regional dialect so that I can start with a clean slate. After taking this course, I am confident that I can get through an entire show without my voice feeling tired or sore afterward. I also feel prepared to take on any vocal quality or dialect that a director gives to me for my character.

This class also showed me that I could branch out into another area of performing; voice overs. Learning how to match the tone of my voice to the tone of the message showed me that I could make an impact with my voice alone. One of the voice over projects we had to do was creating our own public service announcement. We had to choose the topic, put together the visuals, write the script, and record the vocals. I chose Fire Safety as my topic because my Father is a firefighter and has always stressed the importance of knowing how to prevent a fire. Also, college students don't always remember to take the precautions they were taught in their childhood. A unique aspect of this project is the fact that we presented our scripts live in front of the class and our classmates gave us constructive criticism. Then we had to go back and rewrite our scripts, taking their critiques and applying them to our projects. This is proof of my ability to listen, take criticism well, and apply it. In my final PSA, I tried to target an audience of my peers with the script, pictures, and tone of voice that I used, and I hope this message helps to save people in the future. Here is my PSA on Fire Safety...

Valerie Stevens - PSA

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Alpha Psi Omega

At Rider University I am an active member of the Tau Eta cast of the honorary co-ed theater fraternity Alpha Psi Omega. This group puts on several small and large scale productions each year which gives the performing arts students even more opportunities to put what they're learning in the classroom into action. These productions are also a great opportunity for people to learn the technical arts of lighting, sound, stage management, costumes, set design, hair, and make up. Being in the cast and on the production crew of these shows have helped me to become a more well-rounded performer and have taught me to have more respect for the hard workers behind the scenes. Another large aspect of this organization is community service, so we do a lot of fundraising for different charities and we give our time to different service projects. I feel that being a member of this organization will help me in my future not only by giving me performance and technical opportunities to broaden my horizons and hone my craft, but also by giving me a respect for my community and a moral standard to hold myself to. I am excited to see what experiences this organization will lead me to in the years to come.

When you first join Alpha Psi Omega, you have to participate in a New Member Talent Show. This gives you a chance to share your talents with the other members of the group. For my Talent Show I sang a duet with a friend called "I Still Believe" from Miss Saigon. I chose to perform this piece so that I could show my ability to harmonize and hold my own part while singing with someone else. I believe it is a good representation of what I can do as a performer.

"I Still Believe" - Valerie Stevens from Valerie Stevens on Vimeo.

The Ash Girl

During the spring of 2010, Alpha Psi Omega put on a production of Timberlake Wertenbaker's play "The Ash Girl". It is a dark twist on the classic Cinderella story where the human characters are tormented by the seven deadly sins and their sister, Sadness. Each sin lives in the forest in the form of an animal ready to attack the human race. Their goal is to destroy mankind and for evil to triumph; but in the end, good beats evil once again. I played the role of Angerbird, one of the sins. The costumes, hair, and make-up that went into this role were very extreme and dramatic. These photographs are proof that I can pull off heavy make-up and play strange characters of fantasy. Here is Angerbird Headshot 1 (shown top left) and Angerbird Headshot 2 (shown bottom left).

VH1 Save The Music

One of the non-profit organizations I am interested in is the VH1 Save The Music Foundation, which aims to save or restore music education in public schools. Everyone from students to celebrities help to raise money for this foundation while teaching the importance of music in a child's education. Since 1997, this organization has provided over $45 million worth of new musical instruments to more than 1,700 public schools all over the country. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to participate in a benefit concert for this organization called "Singing To Save The Music" put together by the Tau Eta cast of the honorary co-ed theater fraternity, Alpha Psi Omega, at Rider University . Students can sign up to sing, play, and/or dance a piece of their choosing in the concert and all ticket sales/donations go right to the VH1 Save The Music Foundation. At the 2010 "Singing to Save The Music", I performed "Taking Chances" by Celine Dion. It felt good to know that I could use my passion and talent to help children all over America have the same opportunity for an education in music as I did. This foundation could save the educational programs of our future stars in entertainment, and I'm glad to be a part of this movement.

"Taking Chances" - Valerie Stevens from Valerie Stevens on Vimeo.

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS

Another non-profit organization that I follow is Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, which is an alliance of Equity actors who raise money and make grants to people who suffer from AIDS and other terminal diseases. Since 1988, this organization has raised over $175 million and continues to fundraise for this cause. Their fundraising includes selling autographed merchandise at shows, auctioning off prizes, and holding benefit performances. One day I hope to join Equity and become a member of this organization so that I can do more to help fight this epidemic.

My Amazing Family

I have an amazing support system back home that will be my biggest fans no matter what! They never question my desire to become an actress and they do whatever they can to help me in the process. My parents come to all of my performances, drive me to rehearsals, print out music for me, put up with my constant singing, and the list could go on and on... I love them and my entire family so much and want to make them proud. Not only with the roles I play, but with what I do with my life and the person I become. My gratitude for their endless unconditional love and support cannot be expressed in words. I could never say thank you enough to my wonderful family! I love you all!