DOWAGIAC — Aside from acting in elementary school plays, Dowagiac High School senior Brent Vegger had never stepped foot on a stage until his performance in the Dowagiac drama department’s rendition of “The Dark at the Top of the Stairs” by William Inge. 

The play, which explores family conflicts in the early 1920s in small-town Oklahoma, debuted this past weekend at Dowagiac Middle School Performing Arts Center. Following the final performance on Sunday, the actors graced the stage, took their bows and applauded director Tammy Mammel for her dedication.

Standing on the stage surrounded by Mammel included the cast of nine. Veggar was among four other actors who made their acting debuts at this weekend’s round of performances.

A sign-up list for the play and a free after school schedule attracted Vegger to join the cast and gain acting experience. He now sees acting or voice acting as a future career choice.

“I heard that we needed people for it. Not everyone was signing up,” Vegger said. “I was like, ‘Might as well.’”

From the start, Vegger experienced nerves, but as he grew close with castmates, and started acting out lines and blocking, his confidence rose.

Even with two shows already under his belt, Vegger said the nerves were still there ahead of Sunday’s performance.

“You don’t know who is going to show up, and you don’t know what kind of negativity you might get from people,” Vegger said.

As a new actor, Vegger was not only navigating the art of drama, but also was challenged to act out topics like alcoholism and domestic violence.

He joined the cast as Rubin Flood, a traveling salesman, who loses his job and becomes distant from his family. The character struggles with alcoholism and is also violent towards his wife. At one point in the play, Vegger had to yell with rage at his character’s wife. 

“I love hanging out with people and helping,” Vegger said. “When I had to scream, I thought, ‘This is not me. This is not what I can do.’”

Vegger pulled through by manipulating his mind. He acted as if he was going through Flood’s actual life situations.

“I was getting into my character so deeply,” Vegger said. “I felt like the way he would feel if I was in that situation.”

Acting alongside Vegger was sixth grader Isabella Razo, who also made her acting debut. She starred as the Flood family’s youngest son, Sonny, who spends part of the play bullied at school by his peers.

Razo first heard about the play from her friend, Calvin Diamand, who was cast as Punky in the play. Mammel needed an actor who was under 5-feet-tall to play the role of Sonny.

“I pushed it away for a couple of weeks and then asked my mom,” Razo said.

That following Monday, Razo become part of the cast.

Razo said playing a male character was easy and comfortable, but delivering a speech during her character’s lines proved more difficult. Of all the scenes in the three-act play, Razo had one memorable moment stand out.

“It’s got to be the tantrum scene or throwing things off the table,” she said.

Although she was nervous for her first ever performance, Razo felt powerful performing in front of her family.

In between bonding with fellow cast mates and learning lines, Razo, was bitten by the drama bug. She plans to try out for the drama department’s upcoming musical.

Vegger also has plans to sign up for another play if one is scheduled before he walks across another big stage at graduation.