Jackson Barnes keeps count of the number of shows he’s been in.
He started at age 4 when he found theater at the Arts Academy in High Point. Now, as a junior at High Point University, he hit 65 shows this spring when landed the starring role of Jesus in the university’s production of “Godspell.”
He started counting because theater creates something that he calls “magical.” Today, he counts his shows because he sees theater as vital to showing what the world can be.
“You never know who is in the audience, what they need or have –– or don’t have,” he says. “You just hope they can take something away from the show, and I believe personally that the stories we tell have to say something. We have to put happiness into the world.”