Positive PEOPLE in Pinecrest – Allegra Kaufman

Positive PEOPLE in Pinecrest - Allegra Kaufman
Allegra Kaufman
Positive PEOPLE in Pinecrest - Allegra Kaufman
Allegra Kaufman

Allegra Kaufman is the Gulliver Prep Silver Knight nominee for Drama. Kaufman is immersed in theater. She not only participates in the Gulliver drama program, she has volunteered as a counselor and assistant director at the Miami Children’s Theater Creative Camps at the Dave and Mary Alper Jewish Community Center.

“In the morning we would have to warm the kids up vocally and physically,” she says. “It was a four-week camp and then the kids put on a show.”

As a counselor, she would keep the kids busy with games and help them open up to be more confident. As the assistant director, she would take notes and give them ideas for improvement to their performances.

Generally, the kids ranged in age from four to 12; there were about 60 at a time.

“It was a lot to manage, but a lot of fun,” she says.

While she worked at the theater camps, they put on performances of Sleeping Beauty and Mulan. The performances were open to the public.

Kaufman volunteered at the theater camp for two summers, four weeks at a time, and worked eight to nine hours a day. She hopes to go back again this summer.

For her own drama career, she sings and dances, and also acts. At Gulliver, she has been involved with drama since she was in the fifth grade.

“I’m president of the theater troupe and the drama club,” she says. “They are technically two different entities.”

The troupe is made up of students who compete. The drama club is for anyone who is interested and is much more casual.
Gulliver generally does well in acting competitions.

“We usually have over 10 superiors, which is top scoring,” she says. “I got a superior in a small group musical piece, Big Spender from Sweet Charity and I got a superior in my solo, which was The Music That Makes Me Dance from Funny Girl.”

The troupe qualified for the state competition. This is Kaufman’s first year taking chorus.

“I’m really happy to be a part of the music department. They are amazing in all that they do,” she says.

Kaufman also volunteers as a model in the annual Interact Fashion Show held at Gulliver.

“They raise money for Easter Seals and all their charity work,” she says. Outside of school, she has participated in shows at Miami Children’s Theater, as well as the Area Stage Company.

“I usually do three to four shows during the year at school and outside of school,” she says. “I particularly like musicals, so I can do all three at once.”

The shows that she has been in include You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. She played Lucy.

She stage managed a play for another theater that performed Rent. The show was held at the Mandelstam Theater, next to Dante Fascel Park.

Her next act is college and she applied for admission to Georgetown, Yale and Vassar. She wants to double major in drama and political science.

“I’d really like to be a political commentator,” she says. “I grew up in a family that had a lot of political discussions. My parents really like that sort of discussion. I’ve grown to like fact checking and forming my own ideas.”

As for political commentary, she says it’s kind of like an argument without the emotion.

“Its critical thinking, performing your message and getting your message across,” she says.

By Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld


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