In a nutshell, the adroit Nate Jensen

By Morgan Hodder.
Nate Jensen has performed as the lead in numerous plays hosted by BCC’s drama department, including the upcoming musical “Music Man,” as well as the newly acclaimed “7 Minutes to Midnight.” How long have you been acting for? I decided to take it seriously in my junior year at high school. I saw the musical “Westside Story” at my high school, and it was fantastic. To think it was my high school that did this, that I could and would be a part of this, was exciting. I’ve always been into performance arts: choir, acapella groups, did cello for eight years, was in several dance groups. I can’t help it; I love attention, being in the spotlight. Some of my earliest memories are of me dancing in my living room, where there were big bay windows, and the neighbors could see inside and be entertained by my craft. It’s embarrassing, but I loved doing it, and performed in my living room for years. What do you hope for your acting future? I want to be a part of work that I’m proud of. Work that’s influential, that will move and challenge me and the audience. Theater is a way for people to safely experience aspects of humanity and nature that are powerful, and dangerous. These are the types of works I want to help make powerful, stories that could change people. How has your craft influenced your non-theatrical life? Has acting helped you to become a better person? Of course. An actor researches their character; he must see the character’s thoughts and see how they play out in the script. We try to find out what the character wants, how they can get it, this is a lesson of empathy. The way an actor must study a character’s objective, what they want and why they want it, and using the given lines to express this character, our challenge is to bring it to life. And with every character brought to life, an actor grows in his own character. To prepare for a character, you must study every aspect of their environment that helped form that unique character. We call this SCHEEP, you study their society, culture, history, economics, education, and politics. These are all enlightening areas of study. I am currently, and love studying political science, environmental science, and anthropology.