Hitting the stage again next month, Reilly Milton plans to bring energy to the spotlight with her delightful performance in Sonoma State University’s upcoming theatre festival. 

Milton is a third year student at Sonoma State University, and she is also the assistant membership recruitment chair as well as being on a committee for Phi Sigma Sigma. Milton started as a Theatre Arts major but later switched to an Early Childhood Development major with a minor in Theatre Arts with an emphasis in acting. After graduating, she hopes to find a way to incorporate theatre in helping socialize mentally disabled children.

Milton doesn’t know how she got involved with acting but has loved it for as long as she can recall. She always had a set path of wanting to do something in the arts. She used to do the tech-side of things in high school plays, but also found performing fits her as well.

“The very first show I can actually remember being in is at my old church when I was a child, so I did church theatre for a while when I was about 4 years old,” said Milton.

“Power Lines: A New Play Festival with Hard Hats” will be her third time hitting the stage at Sonoma State, her other performances were “Twelfth Night” and “Super Mega Molten Hot Lava.”

“Power Lines: A New Play Festival with Hard Hats” is a student-ran production that is coming to Sonoma State for the second year in a row. The show is featuring four separate pieces that are written, directed, designed and performed by Sonoma State students. The performance will be April 4-6 and 11-13 in Ives Hall.

Milton plays Dusty in the piece “Eat Your Heart Out” by Kyle Kiefer. The storyline is about Dusty who has recently died and is in another world with three Egyptian gods Imp, Osiris and Neptus. There she is faced with a ultimatum and it is up to Dusty to choose whether she wants to keep living lives on Earth or she will continue to fall into despair and no longer exist. Dusty gets to relive parts of her life, but in the end she makes a decision that you will have to wait to see.

“I have a huge monologue in the show where its a page and a half of me doing a stand up comedy routine,” said Milton. “It’s a little terrifying every time we come to the page, but I know I can do it.”

Before every performance Milton explained that she finds herself nervous but the only way to break that is to just get on stage and do what she has been practicing for this whole time.

Writer of “Eat Your Heart Out” Kiefer said, “So far, Reilly has taken to her role beautifully and already exceeds all of my expectations.”

Milton credits her grandmother who introduced her to theatre art by taking her to her first live production ever which was “The Lion King.” She described how her grandmother took her on a journey into theatre and helped her not only become interested in it but taught her as well. 

“When I go with her, not only am I just having fun, but I get to learn all these new things, she’s like a historian about performance; she never went to college for it but she knows so much.”

Milton’s grandmother always reminded her and her younger cousins, “you may sing well, but I sing with joy and passion,” and Milton will never forget that about her.

From a young age and not much direction her family always wanted to see her succeed. Her mother was very prominent in making sure she was receiving the proper classes and training she needed. It’s not everyday that you hear families being supportive of their kids trying to make a career out of this, but her family never lost hope.