Mt. Spokane High School: Eleanor Weitz is ready for her curtain call

From before she can even remember, Eleanor Weitz has wanted to be an actor.

When she was 5 years old, she went to the Spokane Civic Theatre with her mom and twin brother for a production of “Annie,” and was instantly in awe.

“When it was over, she came to me, and she said, ‘I want to do that,’ ” her mother, Cynda Weitz said.

Since that moment, Mt. Spokane’s Eleanor Weitz has pursued her dream by becoming involved in local productions and joining her school’s choirs and debate team. She also spent a few weeks in the summer of her sophomore year in a workshop program on Broadway. She’s even co-written her own musical and landed her first role in a feature film this year.

Weitz said that while experiencing acting in New York and in a film helped prove that these dreams could become a reality, the moment Weitz truly knew she wanted to continue pursuing acting was her freshman year of high school, when she got her first fan.

After finishing a performance as Veruca Salt from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” at Spokane Civic Theatre, Weitz said a father and his young daughter, Evelyn, came up to her, asking for Weitz’s autograph and telling her how much they loved her work.

“I signed her program, and then I went to my car and cried because, if I could make people love theater and love the work we’re doing, then I can do this,” Weitz said. “And so, that day, I wrote a sticky note that said, ‘Do it for Evelyn.’ ”

The sticky note still hangs in Weitz’s room.

Cynda Weitz said that while her daughter has been able to find success through hard work and drive, she has never let that competitive nature overshadow her desire to be kind.

“She’s competitive and, yes, she’s very driven, but I think more importantly, everyone who works with her wants to work with her again,” Cynda Weitz said.

Eleanor Weitz said that over time, she has realized that it is her compassionate and hard-working nature that makes her valuable as a performer.

“My greatest superpower as a performer is never going to be my performance; it’s going to be me,” Weitz said. “I think just realizing how much being fully developed as a person is important to also succeeding in acting or any artistic field … you can’t just be the best performer in the room, you also have to be the best person for the job.”

Weitz said that one of the biggest challenges of high school has been finding people who share her level of passion for the arts, especially in a small city like Spokane. But, when working with people exclusively from larger cities, Weitz said she realized her upbringing gave her a unique perspective and allowed her to fall in love with theater without pressure.

“Growing up in a city where there’s more opportunities, there may be more of that pressure as well, whereas here, if there’s any arts happening, it’s because we all love it so much, we’re gonna find a way to make it work,” Weitz said.

After graduation, Weitz will attend Marymount Manhattan University to study theater while pursuing her dream of performing on Broadway. But no matter where she ends up, Weitz said she is happy as long as she can continue to create.

“Anytime I can create or watch other people create, that’s where I’m gonna be,” Weitz said.