"
It takes me a lot more time to get psyched up for acting or singing than it does for me to actually do something. It's a problem, I know.""
║ Name ║Grayson James Stevens
║ Acceptable Nicknames ║Around people that he likes, Grayson will allow you to call him Gray.
║ Birthday & Age ║February 25th, 1996. 20 years old.
Born in Austin, Texas.
║ Gender & Sexual Orientation ║Transgender male. Pansexual.
║ Other Labels ║-American/Caucasian nationality/ethnicity.
-His family is Catholic, but he currently does not affiliate with any religion.
-He is extremely liberal.
-He has Generalized Anxiety.
║ Occupation ║Grayson is currently working at McDonald's, but does want to underdo a work study in the future.
║ Appearance ║
Grayson Stevens stands at five foot, six inches tall. According to him, his body shape is painfully average as he has gone on the record in saying, "I couldn't make a muscle even if I tried." His hazel eyes match his light-brown hair, which usually is slicked back or spiked up with hair gel. His ears are pretty small and his nose is larger than average, but overall, the rest of his facial features are quite plain. He usually attempts to keep his eyebrows quite trim.
His favorite flavor of fashion is sweatervests and dresspants; the sweatervests usually being in his favorite color, purple. However, he will occasionally wear t-shirts as well, but that's much rarer than his usual attire of sweatervests. Despite liking sweatervests so well, he will characteristically furrow his brow if someone forces him to wear a suit.
"I hear the sound of good, solid judgment whenever you talk. Yet there's the bold, brave sprint of the tiger that quickens your walk. Oh, I believe in you! I believe in you!"
║ Personality ║ The Positive:-Grayson has an incredibly
serious countenance when it comes to work and studies. He believes that there's nothing better than putting your 100% into something, and as such, can often be seen studying or practicing acting or singing. He believes if you want to do something right, you may just have to do it yourself.
-One of Grayson's biggest assets is his
loyalty to others. While most people don't believe this due to his tense personality and relatively snarky demeanor, once you have Grayson on your side, you have him on your side for life. Loyalty is an absolute must with him, especially with co-workers, friendships, and relationships.
-Grayson has "
lungs of steel" as he calls it, having a relatively strong and loud-carrying acting and singing voice. This helps with range issues, especially since his vocal chords are currently being affected by hormones. When in doubt, voice out.
The Negative:-Grayson has
incredibly bad anxiety. While Grayson isn't exactly shy, he often gets incredibly nervous and anxious when it comes to singing, acting, or his own body. While he has created a morning routine of singing Daniel Radcliffe's
I Believe In You and several other anxiety lowering rituals for acting and singing, he has yet to find a way to lower his anxiety towards his body.
-Grayson has
very low self-confidence. He doesn't believe himself to be particularly great at acting or singing, but due to it being his dream, he tries nevertheless. He often makes joking digs at himself and uses a lot of self-deprecating humor in everyday speech. He often tries to change the subject however if it's brought up.
-Grayson is very
critical of both himself and others. For himself, he expects less than perfection from everything he does and often mentally beats himself up over it if he believes he did less than what he expected. As for others, he often believes that people shouldn't fool around when they should be working and often will come across as a major stick in the mud to them due to constantly believing that play should come after all the work you need to do is done. His snarky character traits definitely do not help this flaw.
What You See:Grayson comes across as a very tense and studious sort from first glance, as well as visibly anxious. He often is seen studying, attempting to learn new music and new plays, and only very rarely can he be seen reading comic books in his spare time. When spoken to, Grayson definitely doesn't come across as shy, but a bit bumbling. His critical traits and sarcastic comments are seen as much crueler than he might have intended if you don't know him, which causes his more rude tendencies to bubble to the surface. On the positive side, he is seen as a hardworker at best, and as incredibly wound up into a knot mentally, emotionally, and socially at worst.
What I Know:Grayson is actually much friendlier than his usual self suggests. He has a high belief in loyalty and even personally feels that he should both be loyal to others and have the same loyalty expressed to him. Around people he considers as friends, he's much less critical and much more encouraging to other people's dreams. His snark is much more realized as teasing when he's around friends as well. Inside his head, he still doesn't feel comfortable being seen as a man, due to his family never seeing him as male at any point in time, which is where his massive anxiety and lack of self-confidence may spring from.
"
But you can only lie about who you are for so long without going crazy." - Ellen Wittinger
║ My Dreams ║Grayson's goal in life is to become an accomplished broadway star and to star in at least one well-renowned musical in the future. He wants to spread his love for broadway to future generations like his own inspirations did for him such as Lin-Manuel Miranda, Will Swenson, Daniel Radcliffe, Idina Menzel, and Patti LuPone.
║ Fears ║-
Airplanes in general. To the point that he gets nauseous even getting on an airplane, while he usually does not have motion sickness.
-Firearms.
-Reptiles in general.
-Humiliation.
║ Likes ║-Broadway musicals (his personal favorites being Hamilton, Rent, Wicked, Putnam County Spelling Bee, and How to Succeed in Business Without Even Trying).
-Science fiction, especially Doctor Who and Star Wars.
-Comic books, specifically Marvel and DC.
-Hanging out where he feels the most comfortable, amidst people who make him feel comfortable.
-Astrology.
-Rock/pop/classical music.
║ Dislikes ║-People who mess around when they should be doing something important.
-Tomatoes and onions.
-Loud noises/loud people.
-Texas, despite being from there.
-Talking about his family.
║ Brief History ║Formerly known as Amelia Grace Stevens, the first child of an amateur comedian, Jacob Peter Stevens, and a social worker, Teresa Katie Stevens, Grayson knew from a young age that he never felt comfortable being known as a girl. His younger sister, the always chipper Dana Robin Stevens, and his mother knew this as well. In middle school, Grayson began to dress masculine, but it wasn't until he was sixteen that he officially came out to his family as transgender.
His mother and sister accepted him, while his father didn't, and never did. Many members of the Stevens' extended family also did not accept Grayson for who he was. This helped develop a set of self-loathing in an already anxious teenager. His relationship with his father and most of his relatives are strained, only really getting along with his mother and his sister. At age eighteen, he began to undergo official matters in a clinic, and at age nineteen, he began his hormones. He has yet to undergo sex reassignment surgery, however.
As long as Grayson could remember, he always had a love for broadway. At age ten, his family went to vacation in New York City, where Grayson saw his first musical: the then new Putnam County Spelling Bee. Immediately, Grayson fell in love in broadway, and come middle school and high school ended up joining choir, theater, anything that he thought could push him towards a future as a broadway star. Starring in school musicals such as in the chorus of Rent, the Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz, and Ryan Evans from High School Musical, his love for plays and musicals and plays grew more and more. His theater teacher was the one to recommend Mortimer to Grayson, as the two kept in touch after Grayson's graduation, believing that this would be Grayson's next step to leaving Texas and beginning his dream of becoming a member of broadway.
║ Area of Study ║Drama Division - Performance and Acting (Concentration in Broadway)
║ About My Audition ║The closest thing that Grayson had to a portfolio was his roles in plays, musicals, and choir in middle school and high school. He didn't believe that this would be enough, especially since an audition was necessary. The over-achieving part of him clocked into high gear and a plan for an audition was formed.
The preparation for the audition was arduous, but despite his constant nerves and waning energy that week, Grayson was willing to go to the extra mile for his audition. Getting his mother to be his camera woman, and using his younger sister to work alongside him in non-monologue acting scenes, Grayson spent two weeks coming up with an hour and a half long audition tape that almost caused the digital video camera his mother was recording on lose all of its battery-life during it.
No stops. Any mistake would have to be made as soon as possible, rather it be later in the song or sketch or the next song or sketch altogether. An hour and a half of singing ranging from mostly tenor to some alto; monologues; and small readings done alongside his sister. While the last couple of songs and sketches before the last began to show its worn on Grayson, he saved his best for last, using every energy left in his body and his vocal chords to belt out one last strong performance.
He lost his voice for a couple of days from this long endeavor. But in the end, the school saw the normally anxious boy for what he was: a determined actor and singer who would go the next mile in working his craft. He still had a long way to go and a lot of training both in his stage comfort and musically to become a truly great broadway actor, but at the very least, he had a lot of potential to grow and evolve with the right teaching and leadership.
║ Year ║First year.
║ Living Arrangement ║Caldwell House, Room 3E
║ Extra information ║May be added to later on. For now, N/A.
