

About
I grew up in a small town called Thomson, Georgia. My mother is a Principal of an elementary school and my father is an investigator and the owner of a funeral home. My parents are the reason I do what I do today. My family was quite musical. My mom, grandma, and other family friends sang in the church choir (Vanderhorst C.M.E. Church). My dad's side of the family grew up singing in church and one even wrote a popular hymn. A local playwright wrote a Satire, comedy play called Church Folk and I had the opportunity of being one of the little kids in the play. THAT was my first experience with the theater.
During choir rehearsals I would go mess around on the drums until one day I actually learned to play. I later became very interested in playing the piano. I remember sitting at the piano one Thursday night at choir rehearsal and I started to pick out the melody of a song that the choir was singing on the upper range of the piano. My mom immediately put me in piano lessons with a local music teacher. I eventually quit because I thought I was going to be the next Lebron James.....Well...THAT failed. I then started playing the piano again, but this time, miraculously, I could play by ear, my piano technique, and music reading skills got better. I later went on to join the school choir (2nd grade to 10th grade) and band (6th-12th grade). From 6th grade to 9th grade I spent my Tuesday and Thursday afternoons shadowing my mentor, Tammy McClure, as an assistant choir director. She gave me a GREAT foundation for music direction. She taught me how to conduct and gave me my first opportunity to conduct an ensemble at a public performance. She played a HUGE instrumental part in my success as a performer and a music director.
In 7th grade, I eventually auditioned for the GMEA All State Choir, got in. Sadly, my chorus teacher at the time, Suzanne Chatham, passed away shortly after the audition. It was then that Pam McCorkle, my high school chorus/theater teacher and my other musical mentor, took me to All State and she asked me to join the ensemble of the high school musical. Although Church Folks was my first show ever, Tarzan was my first introduction to the world of THEATER (well, so did Jingle Bell Jukebox in 5th grade, but that's another story for another day).
I did theater, chorus, and band all throughout high school. The show that changed my life forever was a piece called Anne and Emmett (Janet Langhart Cohen). It was a fictitious piece about Anne Frank and Emmett Till meeting each other. Because of the importance of the piece, I knew that I had to work really hard to make sure that the stories of these two people was told. I then learned the importance of theater and how it can change the world for the better. After that show finished, I KNEW that Theatre was something I wanted to do forever in some capacity.
Shortly after the play closed, the COVID-19 pandemic began. I applied to colleges, but not for musical theater. I always thought that I was blessed as a musician, but I didn't think I was skilled enough to get into a big college for theater of all things. I applied to schools for music education. BoCo was the only school I applied to for Musical Theater. To my excitement, I got accepted to BoCo!! I accepted the offer to come study with some of the best faculty and students and here I am, 3 years later, entering my senior year of college! Never give up on your dreams.
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-Darrick
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