Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 17, 1993 TAG: 9306170352
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KEN DAVIS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SHAWSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
But while Davidson has excelled at Shawsville High School, academics are not his life.
His true passion is the stage.
"What I'd like to do is go to Atlanta, Louisville or some other large city after college and work in drama," he said.
Davidson, 17, whose mother also is an actor, has wanted to work with the theater since the fourth grade when he played the king in his school play, "Sleeping Beauty." Since then, he has worked in dozens of plays, and has spent the last five years with Playmakers and Co., a local acting group.
"In some way or another, I've been in everything Playmakers and Co. has done in the last four years," he said, proudly displaying his bright yellow Playmakers and Co. T-shirt.
But Davidson hasn't always worked on stage. He said he has done everything from acting to working with back-stage technical support and simply "gofering" over the years.
"In Playmakers, I've taken a lot of backstage roles because they don't have a lot of roles for young people," he said.
Davidson will attend the University of Virginia in the fall - a fact he admits cautiously while still residing in Virginia Tech country.
He said even though he has heard the tales of academic rigor and snobby attitudes that are said to exist in Charlottesville, the university does not intimidate him.
"I don't think I'm the typical preppy person that goes to UVa," he said. "I know what college work is like, and I know it's not easy, but I believe I'll do as well there as I did here."
Davidson said the secret to his success is hard work - a secret he plans to take with him to college.
"I'm very dedicated," he said. "If I have a job to do, then you can bet money I'll do whatever it takes to get it done."
While at UVa, Davidson plans to major in theater and try directing. He said he hopes the combination of his experience and the knowledge he gains at UVa will spawn a long and successful post-college career in the theater.
"If I had my choice, I'd rather be an actor at this point," he said "Really, though, I don't care. I just want to work in the theater."
And Davidson doesn't care about a lot of the priorities of many American youth: money, power and prestige mean nothing to him.
"The way I'm living my life is, when it ends, I want to say, `I don't regret anything I ever did,' " he said. "I'd rather make minimum wage and be happy than be making a mint and be miserable."
\ SHAWSVILLE HIGH CLASS OF '93\ \ NUMBER OF GRADUATES: 48\ \ NUMBER OF HONOR GRADUATES: 10\ \ VALEDICTORIAN: Jaime Gene Davidson\ \ SALUTATORIAN: Bradley Scott Dulaney\ \ NUMBER OF SCHOLARSHIPS: 48\ \ VALUE OF SCHOLARSHIPS: $65,558\ \ COMMENCEMENT TIME & LOCATION: Tonight 8 p.m. in the Shawsville High School auditorium\ \ COLLEGE-BOUND GRADUATES: 29\ \ MILITARY-BOUND GRADUATES: 2
by CNB