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Joey Brevik ‘23 is a senior at JHS who has quite the knack for acting. Originally, Brevik wanted to be a comedian, but after some trial and error, he found that acting would better suit him.

“I like the stage part about being a comedian but I just didn’t really have the humor… I decided maybe I should pursue acting. I joined Much Ado About Nothing at the high school my freshman year and I’ve just fallen in love with it ever since,” Brevik said.

Brevik gets his drive for acting from his audience: being able to lift them through his performance.

“I think what’s kept me in [acting] is the fact that I’ve also really wanted to help people and I think acting is just a great way to help people emotionally… Being a storyteller by acting, it can cure a lot of people’s heartache or pain,” Brevik said.

Like his audience, Brevik loves his stage mates too. He has made many friends and memories through the theatre department that he will never forget.

“I built a very, very nice community with all the theater kids at the high school… I held a birthday party that sophomore year and nobody usually comes to my parties, but all the seniors, pretty much, of that production [JHS’s Once Upon a Mattress ‘21] came to my birthday party when no one else would and I will always, always be thankful for that,” Brevik said

Despite choosing acting over comedy, Brevik will never pass up on getting some laughs from the crowd. Brevik shared a moment from the 2022 showing of Madrigal when he played the role of Bob Bados the pirate. 

“One of my fondest memories of anything in my life has been on the first showing [of Madrigal ‘22], when me and shrimpy, sorry, the king, sorry, Elijah Caliger were arguing on stage, we were going back and forth, I called him shrimpy, he yelled at me, called me bob, and I preferred to be called captain bob, so in order to retaliate… I just started barking at him… it took us two minutes to recover,” Brevik recalled.

Before the opening night of Radium Girls in the fall of ‘21, Brevik got a concussion that caused him to forget his lines, but the show must go on and Brevik killed it up on stage.

“I didn’t know a single line for the production on the nights of the show [Radium Girls ‘21], but I had the book on me. The funniest part was I didn’t even read any of the lines. I knew the story and I knew how to ad-lib so well that I could just go with the flow of what other characters were saying and it made sense and it was close enough to the story for it to be a good show,” Brevik said.

Breviks’ eyes were sensitive to the stage lights after his concussion, so he had to wear sunglasses during the performance. But yet again, Brevik made do and had the audience believing that they were simply part of his character.

“Apparently the sunglasses worked well with Von Sochocky,” Brevik added.

Truly, what doesn’t kill Brevik makes him stronger.

“I’m pretty sure when I whacked my head I got some sort of superpower where I can just memorize lines instantly! I’ve memorized five Dr. Who monologues in the past like, month and it’s actually insane!” Brevik said.

Brevik’s mom knew an actor who knew a director, and at the start of the summer of ‘21 he landed a teen role in a movie.

“We [Brevik and the director] met up in the JHS parking lot when school was out for summer and he made me read some lines and I asked him, ‘so, Mr. Director sir, how did I do?’ and he said, ‘well Joey I think you got a big role’, and I was just like, ‘wow!’ We filmed the entire summer and it was just so fun!” Brevik said.

Brevik is excited for everyone to see him on screen, but he is not allowed to share more until the trailer comes out.

“I can’t say much about it because I’m on contract,” Brevik explained.

This year, JHS is one of 51 U.S. high schools that is allowed to produce Disney’s Frozen. Brevik will be playing the role of Sven the reindeer. The JHS Theatre Department is still unsure if Brevik will be in a puppet or not, but no matter what, Brevik is ready to show his full commitment to acting.

“I even said to Mr. Fitzpatrick, if we don’t get a puppet, I’m completely fine with going on all fours for the entire show. I have the dedication!” Brevik said.