Snake River junior takes home prize at state drama competition

BLACKFOOT — Emma Poulter, a Snake River High School junior, recently competed in the State Drama Competition and took first place in the Solo Musical Theater category. She is the first performer from her school to do that.

Poulter’s started learning to play the piano at age four. When she reached fourth grade, she started to learn to play the viola. In sixth grade, she started singing and learning the guitar.

This was also the year she started auditioning for plays. After that, she started taking singing lessons and practiced dancing.

Poulter said she was always more confident in her instrumental and singing skills.

“I was not really confident in my acting until even just this last couple of years,” she said.

That improvement paid off for Poulter when she competed in State Drama along with hundreds of students from across Idaho. She was surprised to find that it didn’t have the competitive atmosphere that she expected.

“It was like we were all just friends and we were all rooting for each other,” she said.

“It was just surreal and crazy,” Poulter said of winning the competition. “It was like an out-of-body experience, almost.”

With a year of high school left to complete, Poulter hasn’t decided exactly what her path looks like afterwards, but she wants to continue theater in any capacity, whether that’s performing or teaching.