By Christina Lee

Town Crier Editorial Intern

Recent Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School graduate Lauren Weyle of Los Altos Hills found a summer camp that reinforced her longtime passion. Weyle attended Stagedoor Manor in Loch Sheldrake, N.Y., a prestigious acting camp that has launched stars such as Natalie Portman and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

For three weeks, Weyle and her peers, ages 8-17, rehearsed plays which they performed at one of the five Stagedoor theaters or at the Catskill resorts The Raleigh or The Concord.

Weyle recognized her love for the stage at 11.

Acting for her is “like taking a vacation from yourself,” she said. “You become anyone you want to be.”

In addition to participating in Stagedoor’s production of “Stepping Out,” Weyle has performed in JLS’ production of “Bugsy Malone” and Peninsula Youth Theatre’s “Guys and Dolls.”

Weyle said that Stagedoor was an experience unlike any other and that “the people there are totally extreme and dramatic. They are totally different from the people I know at home, which made it a lot of fun.”

While many of her fellow actors at Stagedoor hope to make a career of it, Weyle admitted that she plans to keep things as realistic as possible.

“Though I used to want to make acting my career, I’ve realized that there are so many talented and beautiful people that it’s really almost impossible. I do still want to be involved in film, though, and hope to direct, produce and screenwrite.

Then maybe, I could act in a movie that I did the screenplay for.”

This fall, Weyle will enter her first year of high school at one of the top-ranked prep schools in the nation, Choate.

Though Weyle intends to participate in school plays, she said that she also looks forward to making new friends and doing a lot of creative writing.

Weyle said she treasured the experience at Stagedoor Manor and recommended it for anyone not only because it is fun, but because “it is such an interesting place culturally.”