Alison Kolber
Alison Kolber, Communication Disorders major, knew that acting was going to be a huge part of her life when she started performing in community theater and school plays at age five. As she began applying to colleges, the Communication Disorders major and Geneva’s Christian worldview were big points of interest for her. Even though she had no intentions of being a theater major, she wanted to have the opportunity to participate in musicals and plays.
She participated in the Fall 2013 production of The Spoon River Anthology her freshman year. At first she was nervous her inexperience would show with the production’s cast being mostly upperclassmen. However, her intimidation faded away as the rest of the cast welcomed her and showed her the ropes. “Growing in this Christian community of storytellers has been a tremendous blessing over the years,” Kolber says. “I have grown in my faith and my skills as an actor, and I met some of my best and dearest friends.”
Theater is important to Kolber because she sees it as a way to bring glory to God. Slipping into a character’s shoes and being able to tell their story to an audience is a gift that God has given her as a means to glorify Him. Kolber loved being in a community where all the members get to use their talents together to worship the ultimate Storyteller, she says about Geneva’s theater department.
Kolber was cast as the lead in Jane Eyre in her senior year. She found this new experience to be fun and challenging as she worked with director, Mindy Williams. Her favorite part was getting to see other cast members blossom in their creative talents. Kolber knows for a fact that she will treasure the memories and friendships she has made in Geneva’s theater department for the rest of her life.
Kolber decided on a career in the Communication Disorders major partially because of her brother who has autism. “I really have a heart for families of people with special needs,” she says. Kolber graduated from Geneva in May 2017, and she is currently in graduate school at the University of Dayton. She hopes to continue to pursue speech therapy, which combines two of the things she loves most: therapy and teaching.
Kolber anticipates God giving her opportunities to continue acting now that her days at Geneva are over; He does not let His gifts go to waste.
-Jocelyn Englehart ‘18