Junior Alex Bradley is no stranger to West Chicago Community High School’s stage. He sat down with a Chronicle reporter to speak about his experiences as an actor and orator.

How did you initially get into WeGo Drama?

Well, both of my older brothers did drama and I just like grew up watching them. I would see like almost all their plays and I thought ‘this was really cool and fun and I wanna do this.’ So my freshman year, I was like, ‘yeah I really want to do this,’ and then COVID and stuff… I was like, dang. We were able to do a few things during that year, but they weren’t real plays, so it kinda sucked. But then, sophomore year, when I did get to do a real play, I was like, ‘this is really awesome, I want to keep doing this.’

All right. Do you foresee yourself pursuing a career that involves some sort of acting or something in the drama field?

Yeah, I think so. I’m not sure what I want to major in. In college, both my brothers majored in acting. I either want to major in acting or, like, playwriting or something creative like that, because I do also enjoy writing stories, and I think it’d be really cool to write a play or, a movie or something.

So, correct me if I’m wrong: either it was last year or freshman year, you were on Speech Team, correct?

Yeah. Last year, I was on Speech Team.

(Note: Bradley is still an active member of Speech Team; he competed this past weekend in Original Comedy and Oratorical Declamation.)

All right. Did you enjoy Speech Team?

I did enjoy Speech Team. At first, I didn’t know what was going on, and it was kind of stressful, and I didn’t have a speech or anything. But then, as [the season] went on, it got better, and I did this one event called OC, which is an original comedy, where you have to write your own short comedy skit or whatever. It’s, like, eight minutes long. I did that, and I really enjoyed that. I found it really fun, and that is also why I kind of like writing.

Yeah. What part of the production of a play do you enjoy the most? If you want a more specific question, I don’t know where I was going with that. Do you enjoy the actual, like, the opening night, or the second night? Do you enjoy it every practice up to then?

Yes, I love all the practices. It’s just really fun because you’re with fun people doing fun stuff. But the opening night is probably my favorite because it’s just a really good experience. You’re so nervous, and you get super hyped, and then at the end, everyone’s cheering, and you’re like, ‘yes, this is awesome.’ I also do like second night as well, but I just think opening night is just so much better. Yes. So good.

All right, that’s nice. Okay, I think I have one or two more questions I’m going to ask you. Oh, yeah. “The Great Gatsby”. So that was your most recent play. You played Gatsby, Great Gatsby. So, there’s been a lot of conversation about the presence of your feet in the play. Would you like to comment on that?

So when I first found out that I had to have my feet out, I was kind of concerned because the dress socks that we wear, like the black socks, whenever you take them off, your feet look super dirty because of all the material on it. And your feet get sweaty and it look really dirty. And I was like kind of concerned about that. And at first, I thought I was going to get sandals or flip-flops or something. But no, my director, Mr. Begovich, said, ‘just deal with it.’ And I was like, all right. And then I don’t know. It was pretty funny. People thought it was funny that I was barefoot, and also, my goofy swimsuit. I don’t know.

Final question. What has been your favorite play to participate in so far? Because I know you’ve been in a few.

Yeah. “Gatsby” was definitely a challenge because it was my biggest role, and it was just a challenging show to do. Last year, I really enjoyed “Clue”. It was a lot of fun. But my favorite might have been in “Little Shop of Horrors”. I got to play the maniac dentist, and he was just like one of my favourite characters. I’ve played: so much fun, so energetic and evil.