It’s one thing for actors and actresses to star in more than 100 performances in their lifetime. It’s another if that actress is only 15 years old.
Samantha Quijano, 15 of Morgan Hill, received news and a surprise certificate that she officially starred in 100 performances with the South Valley Civic Theater.
Each production, be it a musical or play, has 10 shows each. Quijano has been cast in 11 SVCT shows since 2007, although in one production she did not appear in all 10 performances. “On the Town” which ended its run this past weekend, finished off her golden 100th show mark.
“Each show always bring a new thrill, it never gets boring,” said Quijano, now a freshman at Saint Francis High School in Mountain View.
Quijano’s mother, Lisa, said she started acting in the second grade with a school play at Paradise Valley Elementary School. She continued acting in plays at the Charter School of Morgan Hill in junior high. Samantha begged her parents to let her audition for SVCT plays, and finally in 2007 she did, landing a part as an urchin in “Scrooge the Musical,” at the age of 10.
Lisa said Samantha received the ‘acting bug’ soon after, and hasn’t stopped since.
“She loves to be a part of the team … That was the part of the acting bug that got activated in 2007,” said Lisa.
Samantha’s discipline translates to other areas in her life, including school and sports. As if the 100 performances wasn’t enough to keep Samantha busy, she also acted in Saint Francis’ production of “Up the Down Staircase” this past fall, while running cross country, taking three honors classes and finishing off the semester with a 4.14 grade point average.
“She knew exactly what she needed to get done every single day. That didn’t come easily. She’s just so motivated,” Lisa said.
Samantha, who takes the train back and forth from Mountain View to Morgan Hill, said she would do her homework on the train, research at school and learned to ‘power through’ her work when needed.
Theater runs in the family for the Quijano household. Samantha’s mother, Lisa teaches at both Gavilan College and Stanford University and also sits on the SVCT board. She’s co-produced two shows: “Bugsy Malone, Jr.” and “Robin Hood & Friends.” Samantha’s father, Mauricio, is a television producer and director. Lisa says as Samantha has gotten older, she and her husband have gone over with her character studies to make her better understand character motivation and the social context behind plays and musicals.
Even as a seasoned performer, Samantha says her nerves still get to her just before every show.
“I’m really scared when the curtain goes up,” she said. “Usually in the overture during a musical and in drama when the curtain goes up. Then, when I’m on stage, and it’s time for my line, I just go into it.”
SVCT puts on an average of five productions a year, or 50 shows. Samantha was honored with a certificate and 100 Hershey’s Kisses backstage by her producers Robin Bezanson and Robin Vinkhuyzen Rasmussen last week before a performance of “On the Town.” Samantha was cast as the Little Old Lady and the Singing Teacher.
“I was pretty surprised, I thought I was in trouble,” she said of when she received her award.
Samantha wants to continue performing throughout high school and even in college, where she plans to minor in theater. Currently, her career goals are leaning toward something in anthropology, she said, as history is her favorite subject. She’s running track and field for Saint Francis now, practicing five times a week, and said she plans on focusing more on sports in high school, yet wants to continue her work with SVCT.
“It’s pretty demanding but most of the time, it’s a lot of fun to do,” said Samantha.
