Senior year of high school can bring a lot of mixed feelings to students as they look toward the future. As years of hard work finally come to fruition, with all the excitement comes feelings of uncertainty: What will I do next? Will my time spent on college applications pay off?
Cold Spring Harbor High School senior Zoe Abelson feels the pressure of her senior year, but is confident in her plans and eager to share her talents with the world. Abelson has shone bright in Long Island’s theater scene over the last several years, making a name for herself within her high school and in regional theaters across the Island. She has performed in over 20 shows, with some of her favorite roles being Gretchen in Mean Girls, Sandra in The Play That Goes Wrong (for which she earned a 2024 Hunting-Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play), and her upcoming role as Hamlet in her school’s take on the Shakespearean classic.
In addition to shining bright on stage, Abelson is serving as a leader within the theater community, as she is currently on the board of directors and holds a state officer position for the International Thespian Honor Society. Through this role, she represents all high school theater students in New York, and will work to plan the New York Thespian Festival, a two-day event held in Brooklyn that brings together all middle and high school thespian troupes in the state.
“The reason we’re on this board is because we’re so passionate…this is our everything,” she said. “It felt so nice to mentally connect with every single person in the room,” she added, describing one of the first meetings she had with the board of directors in New York City.
She’s hopeful that she will be able to build up her own school’s Thespian Honor Society chapter during her time on the board, and is making it a goal to bring Cold Spring Harbor High School’s thespian troupe to the festival this year.
Zoe has balanced a schedule busier than most adults, and does so with grace and gratitude. She’s participated in fencing and rowing, written for the Cold Spring Harbor and Lloyd Harbor’s editions of Stroll Magazine, and has excelled in her academics throughout high school. However, being on stage is her ultimate passion, and as she knows the “tremendous dedication” it takes to succeed in this field, she is prepared to turn her dreams into a reality.
