Arts Student of the Week: Ollie O'Brien

Niwot High School junior Ollie O'Brien developed an affinity for the footlights at an early age. When they were only six, O'Brien attended the School of Rock in Boulder, joining in with other musicians to perform rock songs.

"There was one time where the School of Rock in Broomfield was hosting a Beatles versus The Rolling Stones concert and they needed a singer," O'Brien said. "They called the School of Rock in Boulder to ask if there was a singer available, and they said, 'We have a six-year-old. Does that work?' So, I went down to Broomfield and sang for them. I sang 'Sweet Child of Mine' by Guns and Roses."

In addition to singing, O'Brien plays the ukulele and the piano. "I play about two chords on the guitar," O'Brien added, "so I don't think that counts, but I play the drums as well." They consider music as a beginning, a baseline. "A collection of noises," they said. "But it comes from the heart. It comes from my soul. And it can be so meaningful and so powerful, and it can lift you up, or it could bring you down. Like a roller coaster of weird sounds."

NHS Choral Music Director Laura Walters has enjoyed working with O'Brien, and complimented their musical ability. "Ollie is in our top auditioned choir, Evenstar, and has also been in our music theater class and school musical. They are an amazing singer, and made it into both All State Choir and All State Jazz Choir this year as a junior."

O'Brien is not sure how they got interested in music. "It's always been a part of my life," they said. "My mother has a lot of videos of me when I was a small child, singing 'Frozen' and other songs. I have always loved singing. It's been such a big part of my life. And being able to sing, in a way, feels so freeing. It feels so much like me that I don't know what I would do if I didn't sing."

One of the first songs O'Brien ever performed in public was for a talent show in kindergarten. The song was "Terrified" by Katharine McPhee. "It was my favorite song," O'Brien said. "My mother loved it, and I did it years later, somewhere else. I think I recorded it at a studio at one point, because it was a song I knew and loved, and I probably still know it by heart."

O'Brien also remembers singing every year at the Blue Mountain Elementary talent show. "I would get up there in a cute little dress and sing my heart out to the school," they said. "I loved it so much." The school didn't have a choir, but there was a music elective that O'Brien enjoyed. At Altona Middle School O'Brien was in choir all three years, and joined the show choir as well.

"I am a big lover of jazz music," O'Brien said. "I really like Ella Fitzgerald. At the moment I'm really into Samara Joy. She makes a lot of good jazz music. For musicals, I enjoy Steven Sater and Benj Pasek, [Satar] wrote 'Spring Awakening' and 'Alice by Heart,' which are two of my personal favorites. I think they're very meaningful, and the lyrics and the music are so cool to listen to: immersive, fun, and fantastic." When they were younger, O'Brien listened to a lot of rock and roll music, including ACDC, Black Sabbath, and Van Halen, because that was the music O'Brien's father listened to.

As a young child, O'Brien studied ballet for a year and has continued an interest in dance. Later, they would drop in on classes at a place called "Streetside Dance" in Boulder. "I decided I should join a dance team, to experience rigorous dance and working with a team," O'Brien said. "I don't think I would do it again, but it was very fun, and it was a good experience."

Next, O'Brien started dancing in musical theater. They performed in "A Christmas Story" at Boulder Dinner Theater, which included some tap dancing.

"Ollie is an awesome dancer and really stepped up as a leader this year as they choreographed songs for both choir and musical theater," Walters said. "They are also dance captain and have a big role in our...musical, 'Footloose.'"

O'Brien wore many hats for the "Footloose" musical. "At the beginning of the semester, our director and technical director went on a leave of absence," O'Brien explained. "There was a lot of opportunity for students to step up. I had already asked to be the student choreographer or the dance captain, because I love dance. I was originally only going to choreograph one song, but I ended up choreographing three-and-a-half or four. I choreographed 'The Girl Gets Around' and 'Somebody's Eyes,' which are in the first act, and 'Mama Says,' which is in the second act; and then the very end of the finale in the second act."

They also performed in the show as Wendy Jo, and as the understudy for cowboy Bobby, which the understudy performed on the last night of the show. "I got to wear bell bottom cow print jeans," O'Brien said. "And I also did costumes. It was mainly just reaching out to people to ask what they had in their closets. I made costume plots for everyone, so everyone knew what to change into and when. It was very fun. It was really cool to be able to step up into that leadership position and be able to help people not only find clothes that they're comfortable in, but find clothes that they didn't have to go out and spend a bajillion dollars on."

"Performing is pretty much everything Ollie does," Walters said. "And they are fantastic at every aspect!"

In their spare time, O'Brien likes to write. Their freshman year O'Brien wrote several articles for the school newspaper, and they have written a few full-length, (60,000 to 90,000 word) stories. They recently finished writing the music for a musical which they hope to put on next year in Niwot.

O'Brien also plays sports and enjoys parkour. "There's this show called 'American Ninja Warrior,'" O'Brien said, "where people do obstacles. I got into that because my older sister was into it. And then I ended up being on this TV show, 'American Ninja Warrior Junior,' which was interesting-a very cool experience."

O'Brien is excited to see where the future takes them. "I know that I will probably go to college. I don't know where yet. I have been working very hard on college applications. Most likely I'm going to go for musical theater or something surrounding musical theater, because that's what I'm passionate about, and it's what I have been doing professionally since I was seven years old. I would love to do something in costuming. I would love to do a lot of the technical behind-the-scenes work, because I think that's so interesting. And I might get a dual degree, because musical theater degrees aren't the most useful. I would love to have something to fall back on, but I love musical theater so much. You know, you have to go where your heart takes you."