Her infectious smile, piercing blue eyes, and her amazing optimism are just a few of the qualities that make you fall in love with Willow the second you meet her. She is witty and sarcastic when teasing you, but equally empathetic and caring when you need her to be. Hardworking and driven, Willow Lautenberg is the strong feminist friend we all want in our lives.
The BFA theater and performance sophomore was recently in The Road of Life, an original musical about Sveta, a young woman who has to witness the horror of the siege of Leningrad during World War II. It was her first lead role and Willow says that it was a big responsibility; she wanted to do the part justice. She did extensive research to get into the skin of the character. She understood the historical context of the musical—the time period and the character who inspired Sveta. It helped her connect to the piece on a different level, as the horrors of what was being portrayed in the play had actually occurred, which grounded the music in reality. It pushed her to try and paint a portrait of the pain and suffering with the hope and strength the people of Leningrad had to survive.
“Being a part of the creation of a new type of theater was an exciting opportunity,” she says. “While it was sometimes challenging to work on a show that was still being written, it was also a great experience trying to understand the subtext of the musical, to understand Sveta’s mind and portray her emotions while singing the songs.”
If there’s a big group working together on a musical, there has to have been at least one crazy incident that came out of it. Prod her about some fun memories from the play, and you’ll find that Willow has a lot to share.
“There was one time in the rehearsal, where the guy who plays Vladimir, Garett, and I were doing one of our very dramatic scenes. We were having a shout-off and he was telling me I couldn’t say rebellious things on the radio and he turns and stares at me intensely. It was dead serious and one of us forgot our lines and we just continued to glare at each other until I just couldn’t take it anymore and cracked up. I had tears in my eyes!”
Of course, being the intruding friend that I am, I had to ask her about Sveta’s kiss with Seroza (her love interest on the show) and Willow had a great story to share about that too. “I think this happened during the second show, the scene ends with us kissing and the light goes. My co-lead, Phil, was under it and looking down at me, so he couldn’t tell when the light went off. For some reason, during the show, the light just stayed on for a really long time and I thought he was pulling away and while I was “kissing” him, I had to say “No, don’t pull away” and stay like that. That light just stayed on for so long. When we finally went off stage, I was cracking up and he was like, “I realized the light was on. You didn’t have to say it.”
Along with acting, Willow is also interested in singing and writing. They’re her three main passions, she says. Although with her writing minor, she wishes she had more time to sing. She says that she has a lot of interests that she wants to spend time on, but like every busy college kid, she unfortunately cannot. Willow loves animals and is very interested in animal behavior. “If I ever choose a science field to be in, it would related to that.” She’s also really interested in working with children and thinks that there is a lot to learn from doing so. She claims to be not very good at dancing, even if she loves to. She would just really love it if she had more time so that she could play the piano, write her own music and lean more music theory.
Her eyes light up as she says, “Oh and I love, love, love to travel,” while adding that meeting new people and learning about new cultures helps her find the differences that make people unique in addition to the similarities that make a place her own. In some ways, she feels more content when she travels. “If I’m enveloped in that place, I can forget about everything else. It allows me to live in the moment, even if I’m planning my day or the next.” She says that meeting a new person in another country, especially when you don’t speak each other’s language makes traveling more appealing to her. “When you’re trying to communicate with them, you forget yourself and your baggage. It has a lightness to it that I like,” she says. “I’ve met so many interesting and intriguing people. When I was in Italy, my Air BnB host asked me if I wanted to join his friends on a Saturday night out and I really got a taste of their reality, getting that 20 year old’s Saturday night, Italian experience. It was really exciting to understand where they were coming from, almost like I got a little taste of what it’s like to live there.”
Ask her where she’s traveled to, and you’ll be presented with a long list of countries. “Oh my god, the places I’ve traveled to,” she takes a deep breath. “When I was four or five, my parents took me out of kindergarten and traveled for a year. So I saw a lot of places as a young kid. I’ve been to at least 17 different countries.” She’s gone around the world—Kenya, South Africa, Malaysia, Mali, Canada, Singapore and various places in South America. When she was in middle school she visited Israel, the Czech Republic and Poland. She was in India for three weeks last summer, and visited 11 different countries in the three months during the fall semester she lived at the Castle.
She loves the creative atmosphere and the overall accepting nature that Emerson has towards people. The performing arts staff include some of the most incredible people she’s ever met. “There’s so many opportunities and so much drive for involvement here. It can get stressful at times, but it is a really cool environment to be in. I love the types of performance spaces there are here and the different kinds of theater. ArtsEmerson, for example. By having international groups come to our school and perform, there is so much opportunity involved, even as just an audience member.”
In 10 years, she hopes to be doing something that really fulfills her. “Definitely something to do with the arts, but I’m not sure what form that’s going to take,” she says. She’d like to be making a living from performances, whether it’s plays, movies, writing or singing. “I want to find a place of self-love and acceptance. Having that is so important in life. I want to feel like I left a positive impact on the world. It’s great to strive for more, but at the same time, in ten years, I want to feel like I’m doing enough.”
HCE: What’s your favorite book?
WL: To Kill a Mockingbird, Water for Elephants and High Society.
HCE: Favorite music artist?
WL: Barbra Streisand and Jennifer Hudson.
HCE: Favorite food?
WL: Chocolate. Oooh dumplings are amazing, too. And Sushi. I love food. And I’m not very picky so I’ll try anything. This is a hard one. Oh and salad. I love salad. We’ll leave it at that.
HCE: Favorite play/musical?
WL: Les Misèrables, but I have a lot of shows I really love. If I saw Hamilton, I’m sure I’d love it, but I only have the soundtrack right now.
HCE: What about your next travel destination?
WL: I’d love to go back to Florence, but for a new place, I’d say Scotland. Hawaii, somewhere tropical, like the Bahamas or the Caribbean.
HCE: What do you look for in a guy?
WL: I don’t have a type. It depends on the guy. I guess someone who’s genuinely kind. (I prod her a little further on the matter and lost in thought, she answers.) He should definitely be taller than me. Oh God, you’re gonna write that down. Taller than me isn’t very specific though (she notices me typing away) WHAT ARE YOU WRITING? Okay, just a nice guy. A guy who doesn’t want to be a jerk. Okay, I don’t know.