Teen of the Week: Music, theater bring Parkersburg South junior out of her shell
Parkersburg South High School student Lydia Gump is pictured in front of the Audrey II plant puppet from the recent South production of “Little Shop of Horrors” after closing night. She works behind the scenes as a stage tech on a number of productions at school. In the upcoming school year, she will be stage manager for the theater classes’ three main productions. (Photo Provided)
Lydia Gump, who will be starting her junior year at Parkersburg South High School in the fall, is involved with the marching band. Gump is the trombone player toward the center of the banner. (Photo Provided)
From left, incoming Parkersburg South High School junior Lydia Gump is shown with her father Jared, brother Ethan, mother Stacie and sister Hannah after finishing the Escape Room at the Greenbrier Resort. (Photo Provided)
Parkersburg South High School student Lydia Gump plays trombone in the school’s Jazz Band. She also plays piano and is starting to learn guitar. She is interested in going into the music industry or music education. (Photo Provided)
Lydia Gump and her twin sister Hannah, who will be starting their junior year at Parkersburg South High School in the fall, were at Outback Steakhouse supporting the Blennerhassett Middle School band of which their brother, Ethan, is a member. Lydia plays trombone in bands at South, and her sister plays clarinet. Ethan is following in Lydia’s footsteps by taking up trombone. (Photo Provided)
Parkersburg South High School student Lydia Gump works backstage cleaning up and resetting props for a performance of “Beauty and the Beast.” Gump, who will be starting her junior year, works behind the scenes on a number of the school’s theater productions. (Photo Provided)
Parkersburg South High School student Lydia Gump is pictured in front of the Audrey II plant puppet from the recent South production of “Little Shop of Horrors” after closing night. She works behind the scenes as a stage tech on a number of productions at school. In the upcoming school year, she will be stage manager for the theater classes’ three main productions. (Photo Provided)
Lydia Gump, who will be starting her junior year at Parkersburg South High School in the fall, is involved with the marching band. Gump is the trombone player toward the center of the banner. (Photo Provided)
From left, incoming Parkersburg South High School junior Lydia Gump is shown with her father Jared, brother Ethan, mother Stacie and sister Hannah after finishing the Escape Room at the Greenbrier Resort. (Photo Provided)
Parkersburg South High School student Lydia Gump plays trombone in the school’s Jazz Band. She also plays piano and is starting to learn guitar. She is interested in going into the music industry or music education. (Photo Provided)
Lydia Gump and her twin sister Hannah, who will be starting their junior year at Parkersburg South High School in the fall, were at Outback Steakhouse supporting the Blennerhassett Middle School band of which their brother, Ethan, is a member. Lydia plays trombone in bands at South, and her sister plays clarinet. Ethan is following in Lydia’s footsteps by taking up trombone. (Photo Provided)
Parkersburg South High School student Lydia Gump works backstage cleaning up and resetting props for a performance of “Beauty and the Beast.” Gump, who will be starting her junior year, works behind the scenes on a number of the school’s theater productions. (Photo Provided)
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PARKERSBURG -- If life is a stage, Lydia Gump will make sure the sets are built, the mics are on and the fog machine is working so the show will go on.
The 16-year-old, who will be starting her junior year at Parkersburg South High School in the fall, is an admitted "shy person" who keeps finding ways to come out of her shell more and more by being involved in various music programs at school and doing a lot of behind-the-scenes work on school theater productions.
"It has always been challenging for me to talk to new people," she said.
She plays trombone in marching band and pep band as well as other bands at school. She plays piano and has started "dabbling in guitar."
"I like to play all types of music," she said.
The different bands at school she has been involved with have always been a way for her to talk with new people, since in many ways they are in the same place of learning new music or meeting challenges as a group.
"That has helped me," she said. "I feel that everyone is in my same position, and it is a lot easier to talk to people."
Other times, it can be talking to others who are going through similar things she experienced.
"The (incoming freshmen) are easier to talk to because I have been in that position before," she said of how making the transition to high school can be a scary prospect for some.
"We have all been where you are," she tells them. "It is going to be hard, but if you feel like you are going to quit, give it some time. Don't quit after the first couple of days."
It was her mother, Stacie, and other family members involved in music that got her interested in band.
Right now, the marching band is working on a number of songs from the group Chicago. In Jazz Band, there were a lot of songs where the trombone had the melody line. She is also involved in Symphonic Band. One song she enjoys playing is the Parkersburg South Fight Song, which is to the tune of "Go Northwestern Go."
"That is the one everyone knows," Gump said. "That is one everyone has down."
Talking in front of people has been hard for her, but she once volunteered to get up and speak about a piece of music the band was playing during a performance as a way of pushing herself out of her shell.
"The band director gave me something to read," she said. "I kept practicing the script, and I was able to read it."
Another avenue of being involved with people has been serving as a tech for the school's theater program.
Gump has worked with sound and lighting systems, done the mics and handled a variety of situations that can occur during live performances.
"It is learning how to work under pressure," she said.
Toward the end of a recent performance of "Little Shop of Horrors," the whole sound system went out.
"Everyone knew what was happening and began projecting (their voices louder) while I was looking for the problem," she said.
She found out a system had a short in it.
Her interest in theater comes from her father, Jared, who has acted on stage and worked with other students in getting a theater program set up at Fairmont State when he was in college. He taught her that theater can help some kids be able to thrive in other aspects of their lives.
Gump admits she gets stage fright but being a tech allows her to still be involved with theater.
"I feel this is a way for me to say I still do theater and still be involved with those people," she said. "It helps get me out there.
"Tech is really fun regardless. I don't think a lot of people look at the technical side as much."
She said in productions she has worked on, the techs are considered part of the team in making sure the show can happen.
"There is no one who hates the techs," she said.
During a production of "Beauty and the Beast" in her freshman year, there was a fog machine that was acting up and they had to find a way to keep it going during a performance. They were continually pouring jugs of water in it, but they also had to make sure the actors didn't slip, so they put towels down to soak up that water and give the actors somewhere to step.
"We fixed it enough to keep it working for the performance and any long-term repairs would be handled later," she said.
During a practice for "Little Shop of Horrors," when they had to move the large plant puppet, Audrey II, on stage, they found it was hitting the overhead mics and causing them to blare.
"We figured out how to move it a certain way in a different direction and still making it move to the front where they wouldn't hit the overhead mics," Gump said. "(Tech work) is all about learning new things."
She won an award during a competition for theater programs for her stage work for a performance of "Brownstone 213."
Gump said she wants theater and music to continue to be a part of her life. She is looking at colleges with good music and theater programs. She thinks she would like to be able to perform music and be involved in the music industry, or she has considered going into music education.
Her family has reminded her she will have to continue to learn to interact with people to be able to do those things.
Gump already is helping her brother, Ethan, who is going into seventh grade, as he follows her example in playing the trombone and getting involved in the technical side of theater.
"I think it is cool," she said. "I like him following in my footsteps."
She also has a fraternal twin sister, Hannah, who plays clarinet in band.
Gump credits her friends with helping her engage more with people. She doesn't consider herself popular, but more "popular adjacent."
"My friends are a big inspiration to what I have done," she said. "I don't think I would have gotten out of my shell without them."
In trying to push Gump more, her friends have told her she should actually get out on stage and try performing. Gump would be open to the idea if it was a show she really enjoyed.
However, she is becoming stage manager this coming school year so that will probably have to wait. The school does three productions a year, one in the early part of the year, one for competition and a musical in the spring.
Being a stage manager means she will have to assign people different jobs and make sure they get done, like set building, getting equipment operational and more.
"We have to deal with a lot of things," Gump said. "There are a lot of instances where we have to de-escalate situations."
A lot of what she has learned in dealing with situations that come up on stage is she can't panic. She has to work the problem and find a solution, or at least something that will see the production through. It is a way to approach life too.
"If a problem comes up with something I'm doing, it helps me to react in a calmer state of mind since I am used to doing that, definitely," she said.
Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com
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