Kristen Alderson has played ONE LIFE TO LIVE’s Starr Manning since she was 7 years old, and until last year commuted from her home in Pennsylvania to the studio in Manhattan. However, Alderson recently enrolled in a New York City high school for students in the performing arts.
Soap Opera Weekly: How was your first year attending school in New York?
Kristen Alderson: It was amazing. I was really nervous because I heard it was going to be so different from my other school, a Catholic school in Pennsylvania where you wear uniforms. This is a public performing arts school. I was afraid the kids would be snotty because they are also actors and singers. But they’re loving, they’re all happy for each other; there’s no competition. My whole school is sweet and really nice. I couldn’t ask for a better school or better friends.
Weekly: Did not wearing a uniform add any pressure?
Alderson: It was different for me at first, but I’ve been back and forth to New York for so long that I’m used to people having different styles. No matter what you wore, people accepted you.
Weekly: Are there fewer students in your grade, or more?
Alderson: Less. A lot less.
Weekly: It’s a smaller class? That must be nice.
Alderson: It is. I think there are only 400 people in the school. It’s really small. Everybody knows everybody. It’s not like, “Oh, that’s a freshman. That’s a senior.” Everybody’s friends with everybody.
Weekly: Are there some people who are working actors, like you?
Alderson: There are a lot of people who are in plays and have been on TV and in movies, which is really neat.
Weekly: Were people familiar with you and your character?
Alderson: A lot of people knew me from Connor (Paolo), who played Travis on ONE LIFE, because he goes to that school.
Weekly: What was the hardest adjustment to attending classes in New York?
Alderson: I’ve become a lot more independent. I go back and forth by myself, from the apartment to school, and my mom was completely not used to that. She had me on the phone with her 24/7. She’ll be like, “All right, stay with me on the phone until you get there.” She’s worried about subways. She’s usually like, “Take a cab!” But I know I can handle myself, and I think I did pretty good with the whole thing.
Weekly: Was there more homework?
Alderson: There was more. I had an amazing teacher — my favorite one there — but she gave out a lot of homework. I dealt with it. It took a lot of time up and I hate homework!
Weekly: Since it’s an acting school, do you do plays and take acting and singing lessons?
Alderson: They have three or four shows during the year. One is a musical theater show, one’s a dance show, one’s a vocal show, and one’s an acting show. In the morning it’s academics, and then from 1:20 to 3:20 you either act or sing or dance. It’s a lot of fun and goes by really fast. It’s a two-hour class, which you think you would get really bored in, but they make it a lot of fun. I love it!
