The auditorium is home to the music and drama students who can freely express themselves on stage. The future stars come to life in the auditorium, becoming different people and telling a story. One person who guides these striving students on stage is South’s Drama adviser Susan Kamrowski.
Kamrowski is an English teacher and has been teaching here since 2001 when she was the assistant director for the fall play Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare. After her first year, she took over as the main drama director.
Kamrowski’s theater and acting experiences go back to her high school years where she found her love for acting.
Kamrowski attended Joliet Catholic Academy (JCA), which was then called St. Francis.
“I auditioned for show as a freshman in high school and I got the chorus role in The Diary of Anne Frank. I was upset, but I had fun with the people,” said Kamrowski. She didn’t let that minor setback stop her from acting.
“I auditioned again for Mash and I got casted as Margaret Hooligan. That was my first lead, and I’ve been in love with it ever since,” said Kamrowski.
She continued acting both in and outside of school, performing and directing with the Joliet Drama Guild and participating in shows like Oliver and Little Shop of Horrors.
But Kamrowski didn’t stop there. She even went all the way to the big screen playing an extra in the movie Home Alone 2. Kamrowski can be seen walking into the airport.
“I was in the airport scene in the bottom left. The son and dad (Macaulay Culkin and John Heard) are talking about the wallet problem, and I’m on right outside of O’Hare. I enter the screen on the right and come in the doors. I had a big point seta of under one arm and a suitcase in the other. I had long hair and had a leather black and brown suede jacket,” said Kamrowski.
She earned many of these opportunities through an agent she had. Kamrowski had plans to be a star but life got in the way.
“I fell in love and I was going to get married and kind of dropped all that and picked up education,” said Kamrowski. Now she teaches seniors and directs the fall plays and directed musicals. Among the shows and musicals directed were Les Miserables, The Wizard of Oz, Once in a Life Time.
“My favorite part is watching what [the students] come up with and just pushing them in the right direction and really loving their creativity takeover,” said Kamrowski. She also hopes that in the future the drama club could have more meetings.
“More getting together, more games, more getting to learn improvisation and fundraising so we can go see some shows,” said Kamrowski.