Grand Valley State University junior Sarah Tryon keeps busy studying political science, but spends as much time as she can on the stage.

Most recently, Tryon played Viola in GVSU’s production of Twelfth Night for the annual Shakespeare Festival this fall.

“The first part of the semester was all Shakespeare, all the time, every day,” Tryon said.

Tryon has been acting for as long as she can remember. Her first musical was “Annie” in elementary school.

“(It was) the first show that I fell in love with,” she said. “Ever since then, I was hooked.”

Since her debut in elementary school, Tryon has performed in as many plays and musicals as she could manage. In high school she had roles in “Beauty and the Beast,” “Hello, Dolly!,” “Les Miserables” and “West Side Story.”

“My musical director and my play director in high school were both very encouraging and told me that I should do this,” Tryon said. “They were kind of like my third parents.”

Tyron said she also remembers wanting to be a lawyer when she was six, which played a role in her decision to follow her interest in politics at the university level.

“I hate politics, but I love it,” she said. “Nothing ever happens, but the process of nothing happening is really interesting to me. The world functions the way it does because of politics.”

She said her parents have been supportive, but also encouraged her to pursue a more practical course of study while she works to refine her acting abilities. Her first major was writing, which gave way to biology. Now she majors in political science and minors in theatre.

Jack Lane, box office and house manager for the Louis Armstrong Theater, said the demanding combination is rare but beneficial.

“As a role model for so many other students, I think Sarah’s a good candidate for aspiring theatre students and students in general,” said Lane. “(She has an) excellent GPA considering the demanding nature of being in so many productions.”

Tryon said that her friends make it fun and inspire her to be better.

“Every time we get on stage it’s just like you’re playing with your friends. I live with two actors — it’s acting, all the time, every day,” Tryon said. “My friends are fantastic actors and I want to be as good as them.”

With only a little more than a year left at GVSU, Tryon is already looking to the future.

“Broadway is the goal,” Tryon said. “After school the plan right now is to move to the city and start auditioning and see what happens. Right now all I can do is work as hard as I can because it’s going to dictate where I can go.”

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