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BY SHERI TRUSTY

PORT CLINTON – 2024 Port Clinton High School (PCHS) graduate, Anna Hittepole, was accepted into the exclusive Xavier University Theatre Program, where she is thriving so well that she was chosen as a lead in an upcoming Xavier performance. While many theater majors set their sights on Broadway, Hittepole wants to bring her success back to the Port Clinton area to fuel the dreams of the community’s children.

Only about 1% of people who audition for the Xavier University Theatre Program are accepted, and it is unusual for a younger student like Hittepole to be chosen as a lead, so she is having an exceptional first year at the university. Hittepole will play a sexual assault victim in the play “Slut Shaming,” which runs Feb. 19 to 22.

“It’s about a girl in high school in a small town just like ours who is sexually assaulted. It goes back in time to find out what happened so she can save herself,” Hittepole said.

“Slut Shaming” was written by Trey Tatum, who is working directly with the cast on the performance, and it is directed by Bridget Leak.

Hittepole has been performing since she was a very young girl living in Westerville, where the town’s children’s theater drew audiences of 800 people. After moving to Port Clinton, she was involved with theater performances at the high school. She is grateful for the support she received from PCHS choir director, Brooke Harvey, and orchestra director, Adam Murray, as she pursued her dream of majoring in theater.

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“My experience at the high school greatly helped me. I wouldn’t even know that theater was a career option, it they hadn’t shown me that,” Hittepole said. “Brooke Harvey helped me with my auditions. Getting into theater programs is all about the audition. Adam Murray was very much on the mentor side of things. He has a knowledge of the people and the programs.”

Harvey and Murray’s mentorship has the potential to ripple across generations because Hittepole hopes to one day make a career of mentoring children like they mentored her.

Instead of seeking a world stage after her expected 2028 graduation from Xavier, Hittepole dreams of opening a children’s community theater in the Port Clinton area to give kids the opportunity to gain professional performance knowledge and inspiration.

Hittepole is working toward a business degree, as well as a theater degree, and she wants to open a local theater that is focused on children but is not limited to children. She said her goal is to bring more kids into theater arts.

“I want to bring kids into the right side of theater. In some theaters, the same kids get the same roles. I want kids to know that, if you work hard enough and have a passion for it, anything is possible in theater,” she said.