Although many students at this school do both a sport and a performing art, freshman Ayaan Khetrapal is the only one who does both basketball and theater. He is on the Freshman B team and started playing basketball when he was in fourth grade.

“I started playing basketball because I was kinda bored during recess so I went to the blacktop, picked up a basketball, and the rest is history,” Khetrapal said.

Khetrapal wants to keep playing basketball for the rest of high school but not in college. However, he does want to do theater for the rest of high school and in college. 

Khetrapal started doing theater in eighth grade because a lot of his friends were in it, but then ended up really enjoying it. His first ever show was “Check Please” in eighth grade. He is currently in Theater Production 1 and his first production at McNeil will be “Peter Pan” on Apr. 14. Sometimes his plays and games will overlap, or a Saturday practice and a rehearsal will overlap, as he also plays on an outside of school team.

A lot of people do electives that they feel like will help prepare them for the job that they want when they grow up. Khetrapal wants to have a career in theater, however he feels like basketball is also helping him prepare for that goal.

“I want to be an actor when I grow up and I feel like playing basketball will help me play more athletic roles and I feel like it’s teaching me to become a better leader, and obviously theater is preparing me to become an actor,” Khetrapal said. ”I wanted to be a doctor up until eighth grade and then I realized that I like theater a lot and I want to be an actor.”

Senior Maddie Cregar is one of the three student directors of the Theater Production 1 class that Khetrapal is in. She has been the director all year which has given her the opportunity to teach him new techniques and skills in theater as well as get to know him.

“Ayaan is very dedicated and even though he does do both basketball and theater, he still is very present in class and is willing to work and give his dedication to us a hundred percent while he is in our Theater Production 1 class,” Cregar said. “He is genuinely just an amazing person to be around and I love hearing him talk about his sport, because he is very passionate about it as well. You can do both and he proves that.”