When senior Karina Yochem (they/she) stepped into the Stevenson theater program as a freshman, she had no idea it would shape nearly every part of who she is today.
“Freshman year, I was so quiet. I didn’t speak to anybody - I was just the person who was there,” they said. “I didn’t know who I was. And theater helped me find that. Definitely, in so many ways, if I didn’t do theater, I would be a completely different person.”
For Karina, theater wasn’t just about acting - it was about discovering a community and building confidence through high points and unexpected challenges.
One of those challenges came just weeks before the production of Spark, when Karina got a concussion. She laughs now as she tells the story: “But this is my honest answer.”
Recovery was tough. “You can’t think. You’re told not to do anything,” they said. “I got really depressed. I was scared I wouldn’t be able to do the show.”
Despite how difficult the experience was, what stuck with Karina most was how deeply the theater community cared. “People were constantly checking in - ‘Are you doing okay? Do you need to sit down?” they recalled. “Ms. Chusid even asked if we needed to change the flashing lights in the show for me.”
“That hardship made me so much stronger as a person,” Karina said. “I’d have that concussion again if it meant becoming who I am today.” She credits the experience with helping her appreciate every opportunity to perform, even just being able to step on stage without sunglasses.
By junior and senior year, Karina’s role in PTC had fully evolved, and she was shaping the program.
“Freshman and sophomore year, I was finding my footing,” they said. “And then junior and senior year, I was like, ‘Okay, I’ve got the hang of this - here’s how we can improve the overall community and the space.’”
She’s created audition guides and other resources that are still used today, all intended to make things smoother for those who come after her. She even started a tradition of posting memes backstage - with the simple intention of brightening someone's day.
“I took everything I learned from the seniors when I was an underclassman, and I brought it with me as an upperclassman. I feel like - or I hope - that I’m now that senior for underclassmen… and the cycle goes on.”
Looking back on her time in PTC, Karina has worn just about every hat - from creating stage management guides to writing original pieces and performing in musicals and comedies. But if she had to pick her proudest moment, it would be her first full musical as a playwright: Thank You Five, performed as part of this year’s One Acts.
“Writing something is so personal. So I went into it with pretty low expectations, like, ‘I don’t know how this will turn out.’ Then, after a couple of months away, you forget that you wrote those words. So watching it was like seeing someone else’s work, and being like, ‘Oh, this is really cool.’ But then, realizing it’s mine, and it’s really good! That was an amazing feeling.”
“I was genuinely so proud of myself. Honestly, I cried that day-right after the show ended. This show I wrote felt like such a perfect wrap-up and culmination of my whole journey in PTC. It’s a reflection of parts of my freshman year and self.”
“It’s about a girl named Cass. It’s her first time stage managing, and she experiences a lot of pressure in her life and from stage managing, and they all culminate. She eventually realizes that it’s okay to make mistakes, and that’s kind of what high school theater is for, and just high school in general. And then she has all of her community to help her. That’s very me, self-insert. Almost everything in there was drawn from my experience in PTC.”
For Karina, the Stevenson theater program was not just an activity, but the space where she truly came into her own.
“It’s just made me more of myself,” they said. “Freshman year, I didn’t know who I was. And theater helped me find that.”
Now, she’s headed to the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, to study theater arts.
“I just love it so much,” they said. “For so many different reasons. I love acting because you get to escape from who you are and everything that’s going on. It also helps you be a lot more empathetic - like, you’re literally stepping into someone else’s shoes. And just getting to express yourself, but not as yourself, which is so unique.”
“Theater’s just a great way to get your emotions and energy out in a healthy way. It’s like therapy, almost. I’m doing it for the rest of my life. See you on Broadway!”
Her dream? To be a stage manager on Broadway. “And I will get there.”
Her advice for anyone still figuring things out?
“It’s your life. You don’t have to have everything figured out. Just try something new. I did theater because I tried something, and it clicked.”
