Energetic Ingenue

continued

Homeschooled through middle school, Alexander fell in love with acting after appearing in a Huron High School production of Wit. She turned down a soccer scholarship at EMU to study theater—not a surprising choice for the daughter of people who met while doing a show at the Ann Arbor Civic Theater.

Last season, TNTP artistic director Keith Paul Medelis extended the run of a show, and an actor had to drop out to honor another commitment. Alexander stepped in, and the heightened level of sensitivity and clarity she brought to the role took the show from just OK to top-notch. “She is incredibly selfless, and that’s a fantastic quality in an actor as well as a human being,” says Medelis. “She brings everyone into a scene with her, and the scene is automatically better.” Recently, Medelis invited her to direct Fugue, which she staged with the same confidence and energy she brings to roles she performs.

Alexander says she gives every performance for her mother, who died three years ago. She’s appeared in the Performance Network’s Fireside Festival of New Works and at other area theaters; she’s designed costumes, too—all while working on her degree at EMU, where she’ll graduate this year.