Finley Danson moved to Fullerton and began attending Acacia Elementary School where her journey in the performing arts began. She enrolled in choir there and performed in 2-4 concerts a year, featuring songs from musicals such as Newsies, Sound of Music, Return of Oz, and more. For one of these concerts, she even wrote and performed her own song. 

Fast forward to her middle school years, COVID-19 interfered with the second semester of Danson’s 7th grade year. Her second semester of in-person school was cut short and replaced with zoom calls for the remainder of the school year. During this time, auditions for one of Ladera Vista’s performing programs: Ladera Vista Productions, which is the elite level of theatre class offered, were being held for the 2020-2021 school year through zoom.

“I wanted to be on LVP really badly, but I refused to audition for it because I was too scared.” Danson said.

When she found out that the program started taking video auditions during the pandemic, she took a chance and sent in her performing “Castle on a Cloud” from Les Miserables. Danson made it into the program. 

Like many teens, senior Finley Danson came out of the COVID-19 pandemic as socially awkward as any other teenager. The limitations on social interactions by constant zoom calls fostered an anxiety that Danson says continued into her high school years. Her anxiety meant that even though she loved theatre, she didn’t audition for anything until her sophomore year. 

As Danson finished off her junior high years at the most elite level of performing class offered at her school, the anxiety and nerves from COVID still lingered. Enrolled in both dance, choir, and theater her freshman year, she didn’t audition for any major lead roles while in theatre. 

Danson’s sophomore year is when things began to pick up for her, as she began taking voice lessons that year, and her voice began to grow rapidly. She credits her current voice teacher, Melissa Caldretti, for helping her find her voice. 

Her first live audition was in her sophomore year. She found solace in the community created by the 2023 spring musical Bright Star, where Danson was a featured singer. 

Junior year is where Danson’s performing really take off. She was a featured dancer in FUHS’ 2023 production of A Monster Calls, and her breakout role and first lead role was in FUHS’ Spring 2024 production of Chicago as Matron “Mama” Morton. 

Lauded for her performances in Chicago, her senior year consisted of co-starring with senior Sophia Goldblatt as the lead role in Eurydice, and in Mamma Mia! as main character Donna Sheridan’s sister, Tanya.

Her performance in Mamma Mia! earned her a nomination by the Orange County Cappies in the category for Comic Standout in a Female Role for her role as Tanya. 

Her growth as a performer is all because of her arts teacher’s work ethic, specifically FUHS Choral teacher Stacey Kikkawa.

“Kikkawa actually helped me a lot with how structured she was, with professionalism and stuff like that. It actually really did help me because now whenever I go to an audition, I know what to bring,” Danson said. 

At the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year at FUHS, former theatre director Michael Despars tackled a new position at FJUHSD, where he is on special assignment, in which he helps mentor new, inexperienced arts teachers. His student teacher, Jaclyn Stickle, took over as FUHS’ theatre director. While some would see this as a challenge, Danson saw this as beneficial. 

“I think the experience of the directing being changed really kind of solidified how I can maneuver with different people and how I can work with different people, which has always kind of been my goal, I either wanna be a sponge where I absorb every piece of information possible or I am easy to work with,” Danson said.  

She is not the only one who shares this sentiment. Kikkawa and Despars have observed these same qualities in Danson, especially while working with peers. “She is an easy person to collaborate with, and I’ve seen that not just as a teacher, but within her own groups,” Kikkawa said.

“Naturally, when you have a group of students who move through a program together and people who come in after them, you guys tend to start developing roles, and I could see her very quickly developing the role of a caretaker,” Despars said. “She has this energy of like, I’d like to take care of you and I’m not gonna judge you based on, you know, whatever.”  

Danson’s drive and passion is noticed not only by her teachers, but her peers as well. “She’s definitely pushed herself in a way that I haven’t really seen a lot of the other seniors in theater do,” Senior Maddie Engelhardt said.

Junior Alex Thompson, who has known Danson since his freshman year, formed a friendship with her during his sophomore year. For Mamma Mia! Thompson played the role of Pepper, a waiter who is constantly trying to woo Tanya. They shared multiple humorous and flirtatious scenes together throughout the play. 

“We just had really good chemistry with each other because of how close we were, and so because of that, I never felt uncomfortable and she never felt uncomfortable,” Thompson said. 

After high school, Danson plans to attend the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, where she was accepted into their theatre program and wants to earn a Bachelors in Musical Theater. In the future, she hopes to continue performing in any aspect.