For senior Ellie Viana, theater and faith are intertwined. After winning a Cappie award and receiving multiple nominations, she reflected on how faith informs her acting and singing.
“During your teenage years, it’s easy to kind of question your faith, like, ‘Is this really right?’ ” she said. “But for me, a part of myself would be missing if I didn’t have that belief and that foundation of the Catholic faith. Especially with my profession, because I have to offer up my gifts and my talent for singing and acting to God, because he’s the one who gave me these gifts to share with other people.”
A parishioner of the Basilica of St. Mary in Alexandria, Viana first began high school at Bishop Ireton in the middle of the pandemic in 2020. “I’m a very shy person, so once all the COVID stuff was over and we were finally back in person, I kind of had a hard time connecting to people and putting myself out there,” she said.
So, she tried out for the school play, “Murder on the Orient Express,” and was cast as one of the lead characters. From there, musical theater provided a little family for Viana. She remained friends with the upperclassmen as they went on to college and extended the same warmth to underclassmen entering the theater program. “They made me a part of their theater family. I’ve made some of the closest friends I’ve ever made,” she said.
Viana went on to become an award-winner while at Ireton. The school’s performance of the play “Anastasia” was nominated for the Cappies “Best Musical” category. Viana and her classmates went on to perform at the Cappies Gala at the Kennedy Center in Washington June 2022. “Then the next year, I won the Cappie for ‘Best Vocalist in a Female Role’ when I was Marian Paroo in ‘The Music Man,’ ” Viana said.
In 2023, she was accepted into the highly selective Virginia Governor’s School for the Arts, specializing in vocal performance. This year, Viana was nominated for the Cappie categories “Lead Actress” and “Best Song” for her role as the witch in “Into the Woods.”
This fall, Viana will attend Oklahoma City University and plans to double-major in vocal performance and musical theater. She hopes to one day become a singer and actress.
“That’s how I’ve kept my faith life alive, recognizing my talents that God has given me but also the talents that he’s given to other people, recognizing the wonder and beauty it can create amongst others,” she said. “It’s kind of a way of allowing them to see the emotion and beauty that God has given us as human beings.”
