Junior Via Morgan makes waves in the Berlin theater community.
The theater program just finished the production of “How to Host a Murder Mystery Party” and created a lot of memories. Morgan was the interpreter for the show and they enjoyed the theater community.
“The community it provides is really supportive and if you get a part, then everybody is really excited that you got a part,” Morgan said, “(Theater) builds more of the family environment that Mr. Spinner talks about.”
The role of interpreter brought a series of unique challenges. Morgan memorized the whole script of “How to Host a Murder Mystery Party” which includes the 12 different endings. They attended a majority of rehearsals to analyze each character. Furthermore, this particular show tested their ability to interpret on the fly with the abundance of audience interaction.
“It’s a little tricky,” Morgan said, “There is a lot of improv and every time we do one of our improv practices, I interpret it just to make sure that I can get whatever the audience members say… I have to show emotion and show a person’s character when I’m signing what they’re saying.”
Morgan’s love of sign language started at the beginning of COVID-19 when they devoted all of their time to the language.
“I fell in love with it very quickly and committed all of my time to learning it,” Morgan said.
There was no personal connection that urged Morgan to learn sign language. The language and the ASL community caught their eye.
“Little 12-year-old me thought it would be easy whatever language I choose and I choose sign language,” Morgan said.
Before they found sign language, Morgan attempted to learn Braille. They would hunker down in the library with their eyes closed and attempt to read a Braille book.
“Braille is really hard to learn if you can see,” Morgan said.
Their personal mission is to make the community more accessible for people who are hard of hearing or deaf. According to the World Health Organization, around 20 percent of the world is deaf or hard of hearing.
“I love finding ways to make certain environments more accessible to people,” Morgan said.
Morgan values others’ perspectives whether it’s people in the deaf community or their friends. Books are a great insight into various perspectives which is why they love to read.
“Reading can share different perspectives and help you figure out what people are thinking and how they get there,” Morgan said.
Along with their love of books, they bake and cook sweet and savory food in their free time. They are also in a diverse array of clubs and have packed their school schedule. Morgan urges freshmen or upperclassmen alike to not get too caught up in school.
“Do the friend thing,” Morgan said, “Make new friends, join the clubs, don’t overload with classes and homework.”
