FutureStars Profile: Pioneer’s Margaret Crawford will perform two songs at this year’s event
When Margaret Crawford walks out onto the stage to perform during this year’s Future Stars showcase, she is going to take a deep breath before she belts out her first note. If she does that, she should be fine.
“I usually get extremely nervous when performing outside of a group, but the way I deal with it is by remembering to breathe,” she says. “Breathing is so important for both singing and calming nerves. I make breathing my main goal, so if I breathe well I can call it a successful performance.”
Pioneer Theatre Guild’s FutureStars 2022 returns for its 20th year at the University of Michigan’s Power Center for the Performing Arts at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 26. Crawford, a senior at Pioneer HS, will be performing “Only Us” from Dear Evan Hansen and “The Weight,” The Band classic written by Robbie Robertson.
“Only Us is a duet with Ryan Byrne, who is my best friend,” says Crawford. “Dear Evan Hansen is one of the reasons why we got close, so it means a lot to both of us that we were given Only Us to sing for FutureStars.
“I am singing The Weight with Ethan Palms, Connor Casey, and Isabeli Buendia. It has been such a fun experience to work with this group and get to know them all better while rehearsing The Weight.”
In her sophomore year in 2020, Crawford sang in Rising Stars, a group of underclassmen that perform in Future Stars but don’t compete.
“It was a great learning experience to sing something other than choral music, which is the only thing I had done prior,” she says. “I also sang in virtual FutureStars 2021. It was different because every act was a solo, but it was a fun event regardless.”
Crawford says rehearsals have been going well. “Each act meets weekly with vocal or performance coaches,” she says. “We get great feedback from those coaches and work independently to make it performance ready!”
Crawford likes FutureStars because it is competitive but still includes a supportive group of people. “Behind the scenes, there is so much encouragement coming from the other acts,” she says. “It shows the true love and community that comes from PTG.”
Margaret, 18, is the daughter of Nancy and Bob Crawford, and she sings to the tune of a 3.9 GPA. She will be attending Elon University in the fall and is considering studying psychology.
“I would love to work with young people to help with mental health,” she says of her long-term plans. “I am thinking I will either be a school psychologist or a therapist.”
Photo credits:
Senior pictures by Amelia Jelic
Singing picture (practicing with Ryan for Only Us) by Zoe Resendez
Backstage picture (from Rising Stars 2020) by Hassan Hodges
Pioneer Theatre Guild presents FutureStars 2022 on Feb. 26 at the Power Center
