When Jerome Strawser was in the seventh grade, Lapeer school officials enrolled him in a Theatre Arts class.His teachers knew him well. Jerome, now a Lapeer East High School ninth-grader, enjoyed the class so much that he wants to become an actor as an adult. He is pursuing that goal by performing this month in a Flint Youth Theatre production of “The Andersonville Trial.”
Jerome plays the ghost of a Union soldier who died in a notorious prisoner of war camp in Andersonville, Georgia, during the Civil War.
“I’ve been drawn to acting for awhile,” Jerome said. “I started at age 12 in the seventh grade. I want to eventually move to Hollywood and try to get into acting. You just never know.”
“The Andersonville Trial” is based on transcripts from the 1865 trial of Confederate Captain Henry Wirz, who was tried after hundreds of Union soldiers detained in the camp under his command died of disease, starvation and neglect. Wirz claimed that because he was following orders as a soldier, he had no personal responsibility in the case.
The play’s heavy subject matter did not deter Jerome from his role as a victim of the prisoner camp. To prepare, he watched a movie about it.
“I watched the movie to learn what prisoner life was like,” he said. “Then it really just came to me.”
He also said he does not suffer from stage fright.
“I just tell myself, ‘Hey, we’re all buds here and it’s all fine,’” he said.
Jerome also has worked in behind-the-scenes technical positions on other productions. While he enjoyed that, he said he prefers to be a performer. He already knows what kind of role he would like to play next.
“I’d like to play a villain, I think that would be fun, more of a main character,” he said.
Performances of “The Andersonville Trial” are set for Friday, February 19 and 26, and Saturday February 20 and 27 at 7:30 p.m. Matinees are scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Saturday, February 20 and 27. Performances are at the Flint Youth Theatre, 1220 E. Kearsley St., on the campus of the Flint Cultural Center. Advance tickets are $14 for adults and $12 for children and are available at the Theatre, by calling (810) 237-1530 or online at flintyouththeatre.org. Tickets purchased at the door are $16 for adults and $14 for children. The play is recommended for ages 10 and up.
