The 14-year-old freshman may have been a part of the theater community since she was five years old, but back then she wasn’t exactly jumping for joy to be the next background tree in Peter Pan.

Today, Lily Alvino has acted in 23 different plays and is now taking on lead roles. Her family friends had opened up a studio and needed people to participate, so for a part of her theater career she had felt forced to do theater. But over time she grew to love it.

Part of this had to do with music. She realized her passion for music when she was eleven. 

“I was in the show Shrek with no one I knew, and I got a pretty good part, and I just grew to love it,” she said. ”It really pushed me out of my comfort zone.” 

Along with theater, Lily has also been playing lacrosse all her life. She began in second grade because her friends did it and she “wanted to try it out.” She says there is definitely a bond with her teammates, and she said in eighth grade they became especially close. Feeling like she rarely has a choice in what she does, Lily has come to appreciate the close bond that she shares with her teammates, which she described as more natural than with her two brothers. Lily says spending a day in her household is very chaotic, especially since they all play different sports and participate in various activities, so they are rarely all home at once. The Alvino family is supportive of her hobbies, and Lily said they come to as many lacrosse games as they can and always try to attend her plays. 

Some of the plays she has participated in were Into The Woods and Mary Poppins. Into The Woods was actually one of her favorite performances because of the fun cast, plus she got the part that she wanted. However, she said that participating in theater has “some stigma around it.” Along with being a part of the musical club at Glen Rock High School, Lily is also part of the choir. 

Lily is a goalie and is hoping to join the high school team for this upcoming season, but she has some reservations.

“I’m kind of nervous, just for seniors to be shooting at me. But besides that I’m pretty excited,” she said. 

When it comes to her favorite part about lacrosse and theater, she said that the best part is, “the feeling afterwards, like after you win a game or after you do a good job on your performance, just a feeling of proudness”. 

Lily said that she’s looked up to her older brother, Mack. “He was really passionate about hockey,” she said.“He’s always been really passionate about it and has always been trying to strive to be the best. And it makes me proud of him to see him like that.” 

Lily thinks about one day becoming an occupational therapist or journalist because helping people is important to her. 

As advice to an upcoming athlete or singer, she said, “Push yourself, go past your comfort zone, because you only know how good you are until you do it”.