Many people may know Lila Cooper as “Audrey,” her character in last year’s spring musical, “The Little Shop of Horrors.” Cooper received the female lead her freshman year due to her outstanding vocal and acting talents. This year she is looking to further her acting and musical career inside and outside of Springbrook.

The drama department recently introduced “Dracula” as the fall play and “High School Musical” as the spring musical for this school year. Cooper is not participating in “Dracula” because of her commitment to the flag team for marching band, but she is excited to be part of the musical in the spring.

“Last year I got the lead, so they’re probably not going to give me a lead again, but that’s fine,” the actress said. “I’ve been on the other side of the same person always getting the lead every time and it sucks, so I don’t want to be that person for everybody.”

Cooper participates in a theater group called Drama Learning Center (DLC) and in choirs outside of school. In her first play in fourth grade, “The Tortoise and The Hare,” she was the only person without a script.

Because of her passion for singing, Lila has only participated in musicals.

“I’ve been singing ever since I was three, or since I came out of my mom,” Cooper said.

The sophomore hopes to pursue musical theater as a career in the future, and her final goal is to be on Broadway. Her late grandfather and her mother are both passionate about music. While her family all supports her in following her dreams, they still encourage her to go to college and find something she’s equally as passionate about as theater.

“[My mother] always says that she’s living her life through me because she has an amazing voice, but she never really had the gumption to go for it,” Cooper said. “It’s funny, what she says is, my aunt, she had the gumption but not the voice, my mom has the voice but not the gumption, and I have both.”

Cooper expects to participate in “Carrie” the musical with the DLC which will open this fall in Columbia.