LCC student gets first professional theatre role

Makayla Jarman. Submitted photo.

Lenoir Community College student Makayla Jarman of La Grange is taking to the stage at the Wilson Center in Wilmington in Mr. Holland’s Opus in April. She is in the ensemble/youth company, her first professional paid performance.

A 2018 graduate of North Lenoir High School, Jarman decided to study at LCC as it was closer to home and she knew it would prepare her for a four-year university as she plans to transfer to pursue a degree in Voice Pedagogue.

The 19-year-old is currently pursuing a Fine Arts Degree at LCC in voice. “The Fine Arts program is prepping me to pursue a career in vocal performance,” Jarman said. “The program has been very beneficial. I have a great advisor and professors that motivate me to continue to improve my craft.”

Jarman said she has great mentors who support her. “My mother, Cynthia Jarman, as well as Marian Kennedy, my music and theatre teacher at North Lenoir, Ray Kennedy, her brother, and Jacob Mewborn, who served as the music director for the North Lenoir plays encouraged me and got me interested in the performing arts,” she said. “I have acted in 24 North Lenoir High School plays and I sang background vocals for recording artists, DeMarcus Kelly of Goldsboro and Alicia Blandon of Wilson.”

She said Ray Kennedy told her about the opportunity to work with B.D. Wong and the cast of Mr. Holland’s Opus. “Ray is so gifted and talented, just like his sister. Whenever he would come to a practice or a show, I would be so nervous. That was okay because he would always give me good advice and offer brilliant ideas to make some part of my character or the show more spectacular,” she said.

Jacob Mewborn who serves as the Director of Music Ministries at Queen Street Methodist Church and as music director for the plays at North Lenoir gave Jarman the opportunity to sing at his church on such occasions as Easter and Christmas concerts and she has been featured as a soloist. 

Jarman played Mrs. Potts in The Beauty and the Beast, the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, Mrs. Darling in Peter Pan, and Golde in Fiddler on the Roof, just to name a few of her favorites.

What does she love most about performing? “I love how I feel free and I get to be creative and sometimes be myself,” she said. “For me, it is not so much about me having a specific role. Just being a part of something great is what is important to me”

“I look up to my mom,” Jarman said. “She has been there by my side every step of the way through every rehearsal and event that I have. I also look up to Marisha Wallace and Nygel Robinson because they are such an inspiration and it helps me to know that I can put my mind to anything I dream of and I can go where ever I want to go.”

“Marisha is a go-getter and an amazingly talented African American woman who has ventured to the United Kingdom and played major roles in musicals such as Dreamgirls, Waitress. She also appeared in the last film of Aladdin and she has inspired me to dream bigger. Nygel also attended high school with me and was very active in the drama department. He also has inspired me to pursue my dream of singing and acting.”

Jarman is currently in rehearsals for the April production. Looking at preparing for her upcoming role, she said the complexity of the music was perhaps her greatest challenge. “For the audition, I was able to submit a compilation of myself singing various genres of music and footage of my roles in high school plays. The first person I called was Ms. Marian Kennedy!”